Owning It: Killing the "Liberal Bias" Myth

Cenk Uygur joked on MSNBC on Thursday that history has a "liberal bias" -- amending a line made famous in Colbert's coup de grace performance at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner:

Now, I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32 percent approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality". And reality has a well-known liberal bias ... Sir, pay no attention to the people who say the glass is half empty, because 32 percent means it's two-thirds empty. There's still some liquid in that glass, is my point. But I wouldn't drink it. The last third is usually backwash.

The hipster in me says: But Monty Python has already flung a cow, so it couldn't possibly be funny again. The political analyst in me says: Now that's how to inoculate an insidious right wing meme. Imagine a world in which the very phrase "liberal bias" has become so cliche that it is a liability.

In short: Lean into it.