N RECENT WEEKS there have been complaints of unfairness from conservatives that press treatment of George W. Bush is rooted in liberal bias.
The current complaints about bias - standard fare from conservatives - are a convenient deflection from this possibility: that in many ways Bush has been the architect of his own difficulties.
Some conservatives prefer to portray Bush as a victim. On the one hand, there is a persistent protest from some conservatives that America is immersed in a culture of victimhood. Yet then there is this: That notwithstanding the ''compassionate conservatism'' advocated by George W. Bush, much of modern conservatism is itself animated by a sense of an angry, self-pitying victimhood rooted in the perceived victimization of conservatives by government, liberals, and the media.
Conservatives have for years been preoccupied with the ''liberal media.'' After watching television coverage of the Republican convention in Philadelphia, syndicated columnist Cal Thomas claimed victimization: ''The networks are so afraid that Al Gore might lose,'' Thomas wrote, ''that whatever cover they once used to hide their opinions has been replaced by blatant editorializing, censorship of views they don't like, and questions for Republicans that appear to have been crafted by James Carville, Lanny Davis, and other Clinton-Gore spinmeisters.''
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich once wrote of liberal Democrats' ''cheering sections'' in the national media. Hillary Clinton is ''under the media's protection,'' columnist Paul Craig Roberts wrote in January. Conservative Alan Keyes spoke in 1998 of the ''degenerate propaganda media.'' In 1996, presidential candidate Bob Dole complained about liberal media support for President Clinton. Said Dole: ''We are not going to let the media steal this election.''
Many conservatives disregard the actual - as opposed to the imaginary - press treatment given Democrats. One thinks of a 1992 Time magazine cover story as Bill Clinton sought his party's nomination: ''Why Voters Don't Trust Clinton.''
Then there are issues of discrimination - in particular regarding race. Such issues inspire much conservative umbrage and victimhood.
According to columnist Paul Craig Roberts, ''white males have become second-class citizens in the eyes of the law.'' And from a 1999 letter to a Virginia newspaper: ''When you give one group special privileges through quotas, set-asides, or preferences, you have to be taking away from other people.''
Such efforts can cause anger and resentment among those victimized.
There is the conservative syndicated cartoon ''Mallard Fillmore,'' which recently asserted that on television, ''jokes aimed at 'groups' are all taboo. It's wrong to laugh or scoff. Except at Christians, whites, or males.''
Good will is portrayed as insidious. In 1999 Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, announced the funding of a $1 billion college and advanced degree scholarship program for black, Hispanic, and American-Indian students. Some conservatives objected. A Washington Times editorial noted, bitterly, that the funds were unavailable to those with ''the wrong skin color.'' There are other expressions of victimhood:
For years, conservatives have made this protest: that conservative programs and proposals (particularly those concerning the poor and disadvantaged) are unfairly labeled ''mean-spirited'' by liberal critics. The conservative protests disregard this possibility: that such criticisms by liberals have, with frequency, been accurate.
Earlier this year, Bush supporters argued that many Democrats were voting for Bush's Republican opponent, John McCain, in order that a ''weaker'' opponent for Al Gore be nominated. (That McCain was widely regarded as a greater threat to Gore was ignored. As was a more obvious analysis: that such voters may simply have liked John McCain).
Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker - punished by Major League Baseball after his disparaging remarks about homosexuals, foreigners, and others - became, for some conservatives, a victim of ''political correctness.''
One thinks, too, of the Elian Gonzalez story - in particular, the government raid that returned the young boy to his father. Many conservatives viewed Elian, his Miami relatives, and American justice itself as victims of the Clinton administration.
After the raid, some made Nazi comparisons. Columnist Oliver North offered this ugly moral equivalence: ''If you liked `Schindler's List,' then you've just got to love the Clinton-Gore-Reno administration.''
Routinely energized by distorted perceptions, or unattractive ideology, or self-pitying, resentful wrath, many conservatives are indeed frequent victims - of themselves.
Andrew Lee Fielding, a writer and former radio talk host, lives in Charlottesville, Va.
