During the past month of the presidential race, "objectivity" in the mainstream media has become virtually indistinguishable from lowering the bar for George W. Bush -- despite the governor's repeated howlers. When Al Gore boasts, the press reports it as more evidence of the "Gore the Exaggerator" story line. And the Bush campaign eggs it on, sending out regular e-mails entitled: "THE GORE DETECTOR, A Regular Report on Al Gore's Adventures with the Truth." But when Bush exaggerates? Yawns.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has been getting
himself dusty in the law library lately. News organizations reported on July 12
that Ashcroft, a National Rifle Association member, had reversed the Justice
Department's long-standing constitutional interpretation of the Second Amendment
(which reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a
free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
infringed"). According to Ashcroft, the amendment protects a robust
individual right to bear arms for every American, and not merely a
collective right limited to militia service, as federal courts have ruled.