'Ego-enlarging thrill'

The kind of sympathetic human-interest feature the L.A. Times would never write about any Republican:

Being Barack Obama would seem an ego-enlarging thrill, with ecstatic crowds at every stop and -- if the polls are right -- a better than 50-50 shot at becoming president.
Watching him on the trail in recent days, though, it often appears as if the unrelenting attention and prolonged campaigning are getting wearisome. He told a customer at an Indiana diner two months ago that he had lost 7 or 8 pounds. He said he was learning to get by on four-to-five hours' sleep.
Since late last month, after Obama clinched the nomination, his movements have been tracked as never before. He is trailed constantly by a corps of reporters and camera crews, even when his public day of campaigning ends.

Also: His favorite color is blue and he likes puppies. It's a Tiger Beat article about Donnie Osmond, circa 1972.

It's not that I object to human-interest articles about candidates, or that the rigors of the campaign trail aren't real. It's that only Democrats get this kind of treatment from the MSM. There was a time, not many years ago, when President Bush was greeted by "estatic crowds at every stop," but the liberal press never mentioned that, nor did they ever do this kind of sympathetic coverage about the travails of campaigning.

When the New York Times did a "soft" feature about Rush Limbaugh, Media Matters and Ezra Klein screamed bloody murder. But Limbaugh is not a candidate for Commander-in-Chief, and a puff-piece profile of a radio host doesn't influence an election.