For the last few years, the Biased Liberal Media have found themselves in a bit of a dilemma. Many of the political stories since early 2003 have been of the form

[prominent republican leader] said yesterday that “the democrats say we should [outright distortion]“. [A senior democrat] said “No we didn’t”. [Another senior republican] said “yes they did”.

I have noticed a very subtle shift in the last week or so. My two main sources of biased liberal news are the NPR and the New York Times and they have both started saying things like this

[prominent republican leader] said yesterday that “the democrats say we should [outright distortion]“. Here are some facts that demonstrate [prominent republican leader]’s distortions. [fact one] [fact two] [fact three]

Here’s an example from today’s Times

“It is foolish to think you can negotiate with them,” Mr. Bush said. No one in either major party has suggested negotiating with terrorists, although many Democrats and some Republicans have criticized the conduct of the war in Iraq. Some critics have called for a phased withdrawal of American troops from the country.

In my research for the entry on global warming, I found a number of sites that were protesting the Landover Baptist site. To my horror, I found that I had no way of knowing which of those sites were, themselves, parodies. They have exactly the same style of out-of-context quotes, garish ads for inappropriate Jesus-wear and messages-from-our-minister that the Landover Baptists have. It’s like they copied them!

I have never seen the “global warming as conspiracy” theory put so forcefully. Which makes me think it might be a spoof. You never can tell these days.

This hilarious article at the National Review manages to cover

• Why global warming isn’t actually happening
  

  But sea-level data from Tuvalu show basically a flat-line average since 1977 — talk about an inconvenient truth!

• Why, if it is happening, it’s not as severe as they say it is
  

  The Al Gore scare film has some dramatic footage of the consequences of a 20-foot rise in sea levels. Most estimates I have read about talk about a three-foot rise at most, but let’s not quibble.

• and it’s probably not our fault.
  

  Granted, maybe it isn’t really happening, and if it is there are strong reasons to doubt that humans have anything to do with it.

• Why, if it is as severe as they say it is, it’s actually a good thing
  

  But add global warming and vast regions would become comfortably habitable. As well, there would be more land available for cultivation

• The line that puts it over the edge into probable spoof, though, is when he concedes
  

  Granted, there will be some negative impacts in marginal areas.

• Genius. But when the conclusion ties it all into a liberal plot to redistribute wealth by means of environmental regulations and public works to prevent the storm surge
  

  Another motive, sometimes open sometimes not, is to end the free-market system as we know it. By linking the cause of global warming to the activities of the most productive economies in human history, they can take down capitalism by other means.

that’s when I started to look for the “I can’t believe it’s not Jesus” ads.