In his column last week, Ralph Nichols suggested he and I are kind of the Highline version of Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes.

While Ralph and I work well together and I appreciate Ralph complementing me as genuinely nice, I have no wish to be likened to Hannity’s hand-picked ineffectual sidekick on Fox (Faux) News.

If we have to emulate a liberal/conservative team, let’s go with James Carville and Mary Matalin.

Last week, Ralph also admitted limited-government conservatives are finally losing patience with President Bush over increased spending.

It should be no surprise that President Bush is disappointing the limited-government crowd in favor of delivering goodies for his corporate sponsors.

As far as the fat cats are concerned, he’s their boy.

George W. Bush was a rich kid screw-up as a businessman until he reached his 40s.

Then the fat cats adopted him, based on what they thought his father could do for them and where they thought George Jr. might be headed.

As a front man, he exhibited a certain frat-boy charm.

As he jokes, “My base is the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-mores.’”

So it’s not surprising that once in office he is rewarding his backers.

Ralph also expressed displeasure at what he considers President Bush’s lax immigration policy.

The reason is obvious, again -- cheap workers. Sometimes Bush’s corporate backers don’t even have to pay Wal-Mart wages.

Then Ralph wrote that I used observations close to “Democratic Party talking points as conveyed by the mainstream media.”

Thank goodness, Ralph has never used Republican talking points as a Times/News columnist.

It is very clever to lump the mainstream media, whose job it is to report all sides fairly, in with the Democrats.

That means he can inhabit the far right end of the ideological spectrum and brand everything from moderate Republicans to the ultra-left as “liberal.”

That justifies watching a conservative cable “news” station that reports election problems as “irregularities” in King County but “trumped-up allegations” in Ohio or Florida.

The mainstream media sometimes makes mistakes.

For example, after I wrote my March 8 column, the Associated Press clarified its story on what President Bush was told before Hurricane Katrina struck concerning the New Orleans levees.

He was informed the levees could be topped, not breached.

But whatever the details, President Bush received the message that the hurricane could be devastating. There is no excuse for his indifference and lack of action.

Ralph is right that sometimes stories printed in the mainstream media are slanted.

The New York Times apologized for a series of stories that overstated the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Judith Miller was one of the reporters on the story. She relied too heavily on Bush Administration officials and disgraced Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi (pronounced, “charlatan”) as her sources.

Unlike conservative opinion mongers, being mainstream means saying you’re sorry when you’re wrong.

With Republicans in charge of the President's office, Congress and the U. S. Supreme Court, some Puget Sound progressives say they feel helpless to change things.

This year’s Congressional elections are a great place to start reform.

If incumbents can get past their first re-election race, they are usually pretty much home free in future campaigns.

So this year’s state battleground races involve Republican Rep. Dave Reichert and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell.

But some are backing the spoiler campaign of former Black Panther and community activist Aaron Dixon against Sen. Cantwell. They don’t like her stand on the war in Iraq.

Undoubtedly, many of Dixon’s supporters backed Ralph Nader in the 2000 Presidential election. Like Cantwell this year, they didn’t think Al Gore was pure enough.

Bush was elected and, among many other things, he appointed two new Supreme Court justices who could tip the balance on Roe v. Wade.

Some Naderites confided back then they wanted Bush elected in 2000. They figured the country would see how bad the conservatives are, rise up in 2004, and elect pure progressives.

As Dr, Phil would ask them, “How’s that working out for you?”

Eric Mathison can be reached at hteditor@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1855.