During the Democratic primary (and counter to some pretty inaccurate conventional wisdom holding the opposite) Matt Drudge exhibited fairly heavy anti-Hillary bias.

But now, to the shock of Democrats nowhere, the Village's assignment editor has turned sharply against Obama:

The increase in positive McCain stories featured on Drudge has coincided with more skeptical coverage of Obama's candidacy. In recent weeks, Drudge has featured in his center well spot: A picture of Obama shooting at a far off basketball hoop with a subtitle asking "Will he get his groove back?"; an image of Obama sweating on stage at the Democratic National Convention during the Illinois senator's acceptance speech; and heavy coverage of the "lipstick on a pig" comments.

Chris Cillizza and others in the traditional media seem intent to defend their dependence on Drudge with any a-political means necessary:

...those who follow the news choices that Drudge makes on a day in and day out basis -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- argue that the shift in focus by Drudge is in keeping with a long time strain of his site: a healthy disdain for the mainstream media and their perceived biases.

"The Drudge Report penalizes mainstream media bias more effectively than any other venue," said one Drudge-ologist who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. "The more flags Drudge throws, the more site traffic he seems to get."
...
"Matt Drudge is successful because he has a nose for news: Sometimes his choice of stories and photos reflect the current news narrative, but often it reflects Drudge's understanding of where it is going," explained Tim Griffin, a GOP attorney and strategist who was U.S. Attorney in Arkansas and has held senior roles at the Republican National Committee and White House.

Yeah, that's right. Drudge speaks truth to traditional media power! He's not leading the village around by the nose, chasing unfounded rumor...he's holding their feet to the fire!

We've got a long way to go...

Update [2008-9-17 11:1:0 by Josh Orton]: A friend reminds us to consider the source: Tim Griffin, the "Drudge-is-objective" source quoted by Cillizza above, just happens to be a Karl Rove protege, a figure at the center of the U.S. Attorney scandal, and an RNC oppo researcher now tasked with going after Obama:

Griffin tends to describe his own work in fairly bellicose terms. "We think of ourselves as the creators of ammunition in a war," Griffin once said. "We make the bullets."

Would that make Drudge the gun?

Update [2008-9-17 12:4:59 by Josh Orton]: Greg Sargent at TPM makes a good point too...