In both its print and Web editions today, the Chicago Tribune headlines "Republicans walk the line over healthcare outrage." It begins:
In the days surrounding passage of healthcare overhaul legislation, Republican lawmakers have been left to strike a fine balance between harnessing voter outrage and fueling it.
Examples of raw anger have piled up. A call to New York Democrat Louise M. Slaughter said snipers would "kill the children of the members who voted for healthcare reform." Later, a brick smashed her Niagara Falls district office window. Hate messages jammed the lines of Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak, the anti-abortion Democrat whose last-minute support helped cinch passage. Law enforcement offered increased protection to at least 10 lawmakers, a security measure usually only afforded party leaders.
Other incidents targeting Democrats are also included in the 18-paragraph article of over 800 words.
Yet it is not until the penultimate paragraph that a shooting incident at the office of minority whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) is noted:
At a news conference, Cantor said a bullet struck a window this week in a building where his Richmond campaign office is housed; the police said someone fired into the air.
No mention is made of the menacing message left for Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (R-OH), an unedited version of which appears at the Daily Caller ((Warning: Includes Explicit Language.)
It seems that in the Chicago Tribune - as in much of the mainstream media - the angry incidents erupting in the aftermath of the healthcare vote are only newsworthy if Democratic lawmakers are involved.
