The weekend before the RNC gathering in Cleveland, the big political story that was trending on Twitter among a lot of media pundits and reporters was not that Mike Pence was the vice presidential nominee of Donald Trump, but that he and his family dared to dine at Chili’s before heading back to the airport to board the plane for Indiana after the announcement in New York City. Can you imagine? A rich guy like Mike Pence trying to pretend to be a normal person and eat at Chili’s? In New York City, home of some of the finest dining options on the planet? Oh, the mockery that followed. I dropped a tweet that asked why this was a thing more than Hillary Clinton’s cringe-inducing Pokemon Go joke at a campaign rally a few days earlier.

Alex Burns, one of a stable of great political reporters at the New York Times, pushed back immediately and asked how it is that I didn’t notice that everyone mocked Hillary. Well, there was reporting on the Hillary line to be sure, and there was some careful ribbing of her, but certainly not with the same intensity with which people on Twitter went after Pence.

This weekend, after the Republican Convention was over, another story dropped in the media, one that included upwards of 20,000 emails lifted from the Democratic National Committee earlier in the year by Guccifer, and released by Julian Assange’s Wikileaks. John Sexton has the basics of the story here.

Now before continuing, let me go on the record that I am not a fair weather fan of Mr. Assange because his expose this time hurts Democrats. I believe him to be a creep, anti-Semite, accused rapist, and someone who hacked our national security apparatus and published some of America’s most guarded secrets. He should be incarcerated. Regardless of the character of the man, which I find to be repulsive, the facts are that these emails are now out there, and they show what many on the right have known to be true for a long, long time – that the DNC from the beginning of this campaign cycle had a favorite in the race, Hillary Clinton, and that they worked hand-in-glove with the media arm of the DNC, the mainstream media, to make sure she was the party’s nominee.

In a tweet this past Friday, I compared the Melania Trump plagiarism story to the DNC-MSM-Wikileaks release. While the two stories are not perfectly analogous, they both are headaches that tripped up their respective conventions virtually at the outset, and they both are telling in how the media covers, or doesn’t cover as the case may be, the conventions in the same way. Blake Hounshell of Politico responded when I tweeted that MSM wigged out for days over three borrowed passages from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech, and offered the sound of crickets when dealing with the DNC-MSM story. He pointed me to the front page on the New York Times’ website that dealt with the latter. (I note that the story Hounshell referred me to wasn’t exactly on the front page, but merely a sidebar story with a link to click through. The Melania Trump story dominated the Times’ site all day on Tuesday.)

What’s been instructive about this is Twitter, and how the pundits are reacting to it all on Twitter. So I spent a little bit of time this weekend to see how the New York Times’ political reporters, not all of them, but for this discussion, Maggie Haberman, the aforementioned Alex Burns, Nick Confessore, and Jonathan Martin, covered the Melania Trump story and the DNC-Wikileaks story. (Full disclosure: Haberman, Burns, Confessore, Martin, as well as Blake Hounshell, have all been repeated guests on the Hugh Hewitt Show, and I believe all to be very good political reporters.) But if you want to see what soft media bias looks like, inspect their Twitter feeds. What follows are the tweets written by the four New York Times political reporters, and only the retweets on which they comment. Simple retweets that do not warrant their personal commentary are not included.

First up is Maggie Haberman on the Melania Trump plagiarism story, which was certainly an unforced error by the Trump team, but not a fatal one being that Mrs. Trump is not currently a candidate for any elected office:

Maggie HabermanVerified account‏@maggieNYT Jeffrey Lord, huge Trump backer, says on CNN that “this is a serious thing” re the Melania Trump speech.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 18 Any other candidate, in any other year, this would likely be a fatal error. It’s not any other candidate and not any other year.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 18
The other problem for campaign in dealing with this – Trump has been accused of plagiarism before.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 18
Trump flak statement comes pretty close to acknowledging using material that wasn’t… original.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 18
Full Trump flak statement

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
Manafort tries to end questions on Melania at briefing. Going to be hard to do that all day after Trump flak statement.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
Trump team on record defends Gates from rumors he was involved

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
Matthew Scully, veteran speechwriter who Trump team contracts with, did early version of Melania speech.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
But Scully’s version was all but totally ripped up

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
Starting this morning, there was a palpable sense of frustration that the Melania speech, which had been seen as a high point, had become 1/

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
2/ a cause for embarrassment

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
Reupping, on-record statement from Trump aide categorically denying the Gates rumors

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
Trump campaign is blaming Clinton team for pointing out lifted M. Obama passages, without evidence to back that up

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
When Romney aides committed errors in 2012, the treatment of the candidate as responsible was pretty pronounced. In 2016, so much 1/

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
2/ of how things have played out has been as if events within the campaign are beyond the candidate’s control.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
The story of the “who ordered the Code Red of the Melania speech” issue forced some barely-cloaked Trump feuds into public view today.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
Me and @mikiebarb with some more backstory on the Melania Trump speech

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 19
Meredith McIver, who has helped write some of Trump’s books, was consulted by Melania Trump at one point

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 20
Melania Trump, deeply private and a homebody who avoids the campaign trail, found herself mired in controversy

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 20
Trump weighs in on Melania speech controversy

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 20
We first reported last night that Meredith McIver was who Melania turned to when she tossed Scully/McConnell draft

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 20
Our take on Meredith McIcer.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 20
Trump team wouldn’t engage on McIver yesterday when I asked throughout the day

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 20
After Lewandowski calls for Manafort to resign over McIver error, @DonaldJTrumpJr says, “Enough’s enough.”

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 20
Trump told NYT earlier that he appreciated McIver coming forward, seemed relieved the issue was over

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 20
Trump at length on Meredith McIver, the Trump org writer who worked on Melania’s speech

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 20
Trump acknowledged that “in retrospect” it would have been “better” to deal with the McIver issue publicly ystrdy

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  Jul 21
After the Melania speech this week, notion of Scully/McConnel being used on Trump speech seemed odd.

That’s a lot. When Wikileaks released the DNC emails on Friday, there was only a retweet by Ms. Haberman that pointed to a Washington Post Joe Fridayesque ‘Just the facts, ma’am’ report.

By Sunday afternoon, she had commented on a tweet by CNN’s Jeff Zeleny, who broke the news that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, would now not have a speaking role or much of any role at the DNC convention in Philly this coming week, a development that’s pretty remarkable when you think about it.

Maggie Haberman ‏@maggieNYT  11h11 hours ago
Holy cow

Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT
Though this might just be staving off inevitable sustained booing..

Notice she’s not piling onto the story like earlier in the week, but instead trying to offer explanations for why the move was made. Next up is Alex Burns. This is what he wrote about the Melania Trump story on Twitter:

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 18
Alex Burns Retweeted James Poniewozik
Forced him out of the presidential race, didn’t attempt national comeback for 20 years. Hardly an exonerating case.

          James Poniewozik @poniewozik
Also, get ready to hear a lot about Biden plagiarism incident, which I assume will be the standard                                 comeback by Trump surrogates.

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 18
To be fair, she is the first Knauss in a thousand generations to address a presidential nominating convention

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 18
Alex Burns Retweeted Maggie Haberman To the extent the damage is contained, it’s partly bc the hull is already breached in so many other places

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 18
Can we do the one where Scott Brown cribbed from Elizabeth Dole’s girlhood story again?

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 18
Amazing that Mike Lee leading an insurrection on the convention floor is at most the THIRD messiest story out of Cleveland today

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 18
Alex Burns Retweeted Marc Ambinder
Never seen another campaign where these internecine attacks get launched so fast – or picked up so uncritically

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 19
Alex Burns Retweeted Paul Danahar
This is true, but also, the infrastructure for avoiding plagiarism is basically: don’t hire plagiarists

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 19
Which is more amazing: that Melania’s speech included plagiarism, or that Mike Flynn’s speech was 75,000 original words?

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 19
Really working through the 10 plagues here: 1. Norovirus 2. Plagiarism 3. Frogs 4. Slaying of the roll call votes 5. https://twitter.com/tonyromm/status/755405373360648192 …

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 19
Ugh people already called dibs on all the good Melania hot takes, so I got stuck with, “It reflects declining standards in the academy”

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 20
Alex Burns Retweeted Matt Viser First rule of damage control: get it all out in agonizing increments over a period of days

Alex Burns ‏@alexburnsNYT  Jul 20
Alex Burns Retweeted The New York Times This is an extraordinary fact >>

      The New York Times @nytimes
The employee is the first person to publicly apologize for an error at any point during the  Trump campaign http://nyti.ms/29NGSPO

When the Wikileaks story broke, Alex retweeted several tweets that pointed out how much of a creep and an anti-Semite Julian Assange is, and did not comment directly on the facts of the emails or their potential impact on the start of the convention. His timeline was spent indirectly attacking the messenger, Assange, rather than the actual story. Nick Confessore covered the Melania Trump speech this way on Twitter:

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 18
First Republican campaign to borrow anti-Clinton GIFs from an anti-Semitic Twitter account AND uplifting rhetoric from Michelle Obama.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 19
Trying to imagine the reaction if Michelle Obama had lifted part of a Laura Bush speech at the ’08 convention.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 19
As @ron_fournier writes, how the campaign handles this dust up is more revealing and ultimately way more important.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 19
The symbolism is rich, but I think people understand that spouses are not/should not be w/out a net in drafting a convention speech.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 19
The other thing that struck me about Melania’s speech (and maybe related), is how impersonal it was. Very little specific to her husband.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 19
The whole thing — not just the actual borrowed lines — felt like a collage of Political Spouse speech themes and wedding toasts.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 19
Nick Confessore Retweeted Kevin Roose “Everytime I say ‘hello,’ I’m plagiarizing.”

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 19
In a sense, we are all plagiarists. In another, more accurate, sense–no.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 19
Where do you think the English got this language, anyway? The Germans. Straight up plagiarized.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 19
So it’s not plagiarism. It’s more like when Kramer sold his best stories to J. Peterman.

Nick was mentioned in the emails, and has publicly bristled at the characterization he was involved in conspiring with the DNC to hurt Bernie and help Hillary.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 23
Nick Confessore Retweeted Chuck Ross
Yes–I could not find an election lawyer in DC not working for Sanders who thought the JFC was improper or unusual.

       Chuck Ross @ChuckRossDC
DNC official and Clinton campaign lawyer were able to get @nickconfessore to downplay Hillary Victory Fund   angle.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 23
PS: here is my story discussed in the DNC leaks. Obviously a total Clinton plant right guys? Lo to the L

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  Jul 23
Nick Confessore Retweeted Bernie Wan Kenobi
You’re an idiot.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  4h4 hours ago
On @ThisWeekABC, HRC’s campaign manager goes hard at the question of Russian involvement in the DNC hacks.

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  4h4 hours ago
Sanders on DWS: “I think she should resign, period. And I think we need a new chair who is going to lead us in a very different direction.”

Nick Confessore ‏@nickconfessore  22m22 minutes ago
Nick Confessore Retweeted nattering nabob
What a dishonest way of describing this document. You must assume no one will actually read it.

        nattering nabob @bluecheddar1
Debbie W.S. off record and positive to NYT political people. Including Confessore. Not with Morning Joe:  https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/14304 …

Finally, Jonathan Martin on the Melania Trump speech:

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  Jul 18
Plagiarism, a planned attack on the host governor & forcing 1 of few major electeds speak to empty arena

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  Jul 19
Imagine what Rs would say if Biden used this defense about Kinnock. Bizarre. Why not take responsibility ?

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  Jul 19
Plagiarism, open rebellion and a coordinated hit on the host governor. The Trump convention is under way!

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  Jul 19
I think the memo said: ‘Chris Christie determined to strike w gasoline on flames’

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  Jul 19
Trump adviser concedes Melania speech portions were lifted >

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  Jul 19
MANAFORT on plagiarism: “When Hillary Clinton is threatened by a female, the first thing she does is to try to destroy the person”

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  Jul 19
Why is everyTrump surrogate & staffer stepping on second day of convention by prolonging plagiarism story instead of taking responsibility?

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  Jul 19
Good moment to re-up ye ole tale of the Trump Institute & its plagiarized Trump book > http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/us/politics/donald-trump-institute-plagiarism.html …

When it comes to the Wikileaks story on the DNC, however, Jonathan is not having any of it.

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  Jul 22
The DNC was totally neutral in the primary

        Sam Biddle @samfbiddle
Leaked email shows top DNC official hoping to use Bernie Sanders’s judaism against him   https://theintercept.com/2016/07/22/new-leak-top-dnc-official-wanted-to-use-bernie-sanderss-religious-beliefs-against-him/ …e

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  5h5 hours ago
I love that this is supposed to be controversial and worthy of media matters scolding

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  4h4 hours ago
Bernie to @jaketapper:  “Well, I asked and demanded Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s resignation many, many months ago. And I state that again”

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  3h3 hours ago
I think there was another media story this week

         HowardKurtz @HowardKurtz
We’re in Philly for #Mediabuzz as leaked email story stirs up the DNC. We’ll also compare coverage of HIllary, Kaine to Trump in Cleveland

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT  1h1 hour ago
A Dem convention-planner told me this am they were worried about reax from Bernie delegates

Again, fine reporters all, but perhaps with a bit of a blind spot when it comes to covering stories damaging to Democrats. Part of the revelation of the Wikileaks emails include an instance where at least one reporter, Ken Vogel of Politico, was offering his story to the DNC coms office ahead of time before the story even went to Politico’s editors.

Now ask yourself if the same reporters in MSM would have offered that same courtesy to the RNC coms department?

Update: By Sunday night, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is no longer the chair of the DNC, and Vice Chair Donna Brazille has become the acting chair, and has apologized to the Bernie camp for the treatment he received from the DNC. I can’t remember the last time the chair of a political party was shown the door on literally the eve of the convention. And yet MSM, on Twitter anyway, doesn’t seem to want to talk about this, other than defensively, like they did at length for four days with the Melania Trump story. We’ll get to this and a lot more on the Monday edition of the Hugh Hewitt Show, which is heard nationally on the Salem Radio Network from 6-9AM Eastern, and also on Hugh’s website.