The level playing field, yet again

Time for another little thought experiment. Consider the situation in which a beauty pageant contestant, say Miss Florida, is asked about a political issue and gives an answer that many on the right would disagree with. Let's say that, shortly thereafter, Karl Rove had been asked about the name for President Bush's new dog, and said that "'Miss Florida' was one of the finalists." Can we picture the media firestorm that would have greeted that remark? Would the media have asked about anything else until Rove either left office or, at the very least, produced an abject apology?

Well, that's essentially what Obama advisor David Axelrod did:

When Mr. Axelrod was asked how involved he was in the selection of Bo [Obama's new dog], he jokingly answered that he “only got called in for the final three.” But as Mr. Axelrod was trying to set the record straight – he actually was not consulted – Mr. Sagal asked about the two runner-ups. “One was Miss California,” Mr. Axelrod cracked to the audience’s laughter.

The response from the mainstream press? Crickets...