The News & Observer‘s editorial page, which never met a Democrat it wouldn’t shill for, did its obligatory take on the Bob Etheridge sidewalk blowup, predictably treated the Democratic congressman as the sympathetic party in the incident:

Having let his anger get the better of him, Etheridge promptly and fully apologized Monday, using none of the weasel words erring politicians often employ.

That handsome apology, coupled with Etheridge’s roughly 25 years of thoughtful public service and his gentlemanly comportment – a sidewalk flare-up excepted – should place this overheated controversy in cooler perspective.

Meanwhile, the N&O uses the MSNBC rationale that this was ambush journalism and that the two students who asked the horrid question, “Do you fully support the Obama agenda,” had done something wrong. The real problem, they feel, was Etheridge not being adept enough to answer the question without mugging the student:

“Ambush” videographers with unfriendly motives are thick on the ground these days. Political pros know how to disengage without saying anything of Internet interest.

“Ambush” videographers with unfriendly motives? The first people that phrase conjures are Mike Wallace and Morley Safer of “60 Minutes,” the favorite news magazine show of lefty scribes. This is the mentality that is pushing for licensing of journalists so that pesky bloggers and student videographers can be prevented from beating the pros on story after story.

The main job of a journalist is demanding accountability of public officials. In this area, mainstream journalism is sadly deficient. Only conservatives are required to be endlessly accountable. It was a reasonable question the young man asked Etheridge, and he did it in a respectful way. What the N&O should really be interested in is why Etheridge blew a gasket on being asked such an innocuous question.

Here’s the lesson: The public has learned that the mainstream media will protect its favorites. They won’t demand that the likes of David Price and Brad Miller explain why they’re hiding from the public. They won’t ask Democratic members of Congress if they will support Nancy Pelosi for speaker if Democrats hold Congress in 2010.

And they certainly won’t ask them “Do you fully support the Obama agenda.”