Yes, Virginia, There is No Liberal Bias

The Boston Globe expends its front page lead story on Christmas Eve to give another non-substantial attack to the outgoing Governor. Using meticulous statistics, the Globe notes that Mitt Romney has been out of state all or part of 212 of the 355 days this year. That is 58% of the days with at least some part of the day spent outside the state. Romney is running for president, just as another Massachusetts statewide officeholder, John Kerry, was recently.

So how does the Globe’s claim of non-partisan news coverage hold up? Kerry missed 64% of the US Senate floor votes in 2003 and missed 87% during the first half of 2004. Did the Globe report this? Yes, but only when the Bush campaign raised it as an issue, and only as a Republican campaign ploy. Here is the beginning of that Globe story:

ROMNEY ECHOES CALL FOR KERRY TO STEP DOWN -
SAYS MISSED VOTES COST STATE MILLIONS
Boston Globe, The (MA)
June 19, 2004
The Republican criticism of Kerry's voting record surfaced publicly on Tuesday, when Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, President Bush's campaign cochairwoman in Massachusetts, accused Kerry of shirking his legislative responsibilities by missing 87 percent of the roll calls this year and 64 percent last year.

While maintaining that their liberal politics don’t cross into their news coverage, rather than attacking the last Massachusetts candidate, the Globe’s political reporters wrote his semi-official campaign biography.

RESTLESS INTELLECT DRIVES KERRY'S POSITIONS
Boston Globe, The (MA)
April 25, 2004
As detailed in a forthcoming Globe biography, "John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography," Kerry is a man with a strong but restless intellect, a political figure who is at his best when probing rather than presenting. Just as North Carolina Senator John Edwards was the consummate trial attorney on the campaign trail, charming voters as he once charmed juries, Kerry remains the prosecutor he once was, with a keen eye for the vulnerabilities of his opponents but a lawyerly ability to argue more than one side of an issue.

So while the Globe news reporters were writing a biography concerning Kerry’s strong and restless intellect and his lawyerly ability, the same staff bashes Mitt Romney’s campaign travels on Christmas Eve. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and there’s also no double standard or partisan bias in the Boston Globe’s news coverage.