I was listening to a discussion of Sunday?s anti-Bush march in NYC on the Fox News Channel and several of the commentators referred to the fact that the signs and verbal chants were full of profanities. They also noted that this was not mentioned in the news coverage of the march. During this discussion Mort Kondracke suggested a media bias in arguing that it would be the lead story in the New York Times if a Republican or conservative rally was dominated by such disgusting language. My view is that it would indeed get a great deal of media coverage if conservatives behaved this way, not because of bias but because of its actual newsworthiness. The fact is that when it comes to manners and cordial behavior people generally have higher expectations of conservatives?which is a good thing. The fact that a group of anti-bush liberals are screaming obscenities as they march is simply not news. This kind of behavior is completely consistent with everyone?s expectations and would be a dog bights man kind of story. But since conservatives are expected to be mannerly and not disgusting it would truly be news if their behavior in a similar setting was rude and crude. I for one am glad that when it comes to personal behavior the media has higher standards for conservatives than liberals?it is indeed a compliment.