Just a year ago, media outlets like CNN praised and courted independent voters, both explicitly and implicitly as they ran endless stories about partisan bickering and bipartisan outreach — that inevitably focused on getting Republicans to vote with Democrats in Congress instead of the other way around. Suddenly, independents are “feathers in the breeze,” drama queens with a constant need for attention fixes, people who have no idea what they want and can’t articulate any principles at all. Tony Harris compares independents to people who take the Fifth in Congressional hearings, and clips in a portion of Tareq Salahi’s appearance on Capitol Hill this week to emphasize how weaselly Harris believes independents to be:

When did CNN’s treatment of independents change? Why, right after they stopped voting for Democrats. Instead of being post-partisan, common-sense, salt-of-the-earth voters who rejected the partisan sniping, suddenly they’re vapid, inarticulate, cowardly voters who demand to be courted.

So, independents …. how does it feel to be treated like Republicans and conservatives by the media?

Update: Jazz Shaw wonders why CNN wants to alienate the people who will decide the 2010 midterms.