The considerable attention being given to conservative extremists protesting against the Democratic healthcare reform bills has raised protests from Republicans who feel that the media didn't highlight the bad behavior of liberal extremists during the Bush Administration. Are they right about that? While I have not seen any systematic media content analysis on the question, I do think their perception is reasonable. So the question is why? Why is the media (even Fox News) jumping at the chance to cover conservative citizens frothing at the mouth about things as ridiculous as the liberal conspiracy theory that Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks? One theory I heard on talk radio was interesting. It was that crazy conservatives are news, while crazy liberals are business as usual. Despite the host's probable partisan motive for this line of argument, I actually think it has merit. Clearly, those on the left have always had more to protest in America than those on the right. Remember, left wing crazies come out against presidents of both parties because neither Democrats or Republicans are willing to support overt socialism. This means that their pursuit of "change" is constant. Right wing crazies have less cause for protest because conservative protest is by definition sparked by serious threats of change, which are NOT constant. Unlike liberal extremists, conservative extremism is not outside the boundaries of American individualism, but rather is just an extreme version of it.
If all protests draw some crazies then indeed liberal crazies ARE more common than conservative crazies. The nature of conservatism, political and otherwise, IS more consistent with good manners, rule following, respect for decorum, norms of behavior, and tradition, so when folks who call themselves conservatives act like mental patients, either they are not very good conservatives, or they have indeed gone mad. Since conservative leaders are not distancing themselves from the protesters, I assume that they are not thought to be bad conservatives and that their descent into madness is considered justified. Either way, you can see how this would be more attractive to commercial news editors.
So, whose crazies are crazier? My guess is that liberal crazies are actually crazier because they stay crazy between gigs, but that conservative crazies, who come out only when liberal crazies seem to be making headway, make for better ratings.