Comparing apples to oranges

Or Republicans to Democrats.

Don't they both say and do outrageous things?

Aren't they just opposite sides of the same coin?

It's common for TV talking heads to claim, and for TV news shows to air, that whenever there is an outrageous statement or action done by a Republican there is an equivalent outrage committed by a Democrat.

But, it's a false equivalency because oftentimes, there is no sense of proportionality to the actions.

Bill Maher took note of the logical fallacy of comparing his trash talk of Sarah Palin with Rush Limbaugh's offensive remarks about a law student.

Everything is equal, according to TV, even when it's most obviously not.

The power of unions equals the power of corporations, TV blares, even though less than 12 percent of the workforce is unionized. Uh, they can't be equal, but journalists are notoriously bad at math.

The "war on women," the GOP tried to assert, is being waged by Democrats because one pundit said, "Ann Romney hasn't worked a day in her life."

But, from March 2011 to March 2012, Republican legislators around the country introduced, and oftentimes enacted, 916 measures that limit women's reproductive freedoms, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Republicans believe that this can't possibly be called a "war on women" until they get to at least 1,000 bills.

The late Sen. Daniel Moynihan said it best: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."

But, conservatives have vast troves of their own facts stored at their "think tanks."

Republicans call it "class warfare" when Democrats want to raise taxes on the 1 percent, but they claim fiscal responsibility when they want to raise taxes on the the rest of us.

Republicans have long complained that the media is biased against conservatives.

Mitt-wit Romney recently said "There will be an effort by the, quote, vast left-wing conspiracy to work together to put out their message and attack me."

Of course, he said this on the Breibart News website, which is one of the top right-wing pit-bulls chomping at liberals and Democrats, and is one the more popular sites on the web.

Naturally, facts debunk this "vast left-wing conspiracy."

A recent study notes that the guests on Sunday morning TV political talk shows favor Republicans, almost always white and male, by 70 percent.

To conservatives, this proves a media bias because 70 percent is not 100 percent and to them it should be 100 percent Republicans because they are the only true Americans.

This whole left-wing media claim is bogus.

The top 13 news shows on cable TV in 2011 were all on Fox News, which is a mouthpiece for the GOP. Last year, Fox News was the overall No. 1 cable "news" network for the 10th consecutive.

The top radio talk show host is the GOP's Godfather, Rush Limbaugh, with or without advertisers.

The newspaper with the largest daily circulation in the country is the Wall Street Journal, whose infamous arch-conservative editorial pages now taint regular news coverage since Rupert Murdoch took control of the paper.

Yes, there is left-wing MSNBC, which has limited viewership, and the New York Times, easily the most informative newspaper in the world. The New York Times' weekday circulation is less than half of the Wall Street Journal's.

Again, conservatives point to the fact that there is one left-wing "major" cable TV outlet as proof that the media is biased. You can't mention the New York Times around Republicans because they might stand their ground.

Republicans bark the loudest about bias because they are usually the ones demonstrating it.

Conservatives dominate the message because, by and large, they control the media.