You know all of those rabid Clinton supporters who have been whining about how unfair the coverage of their candidate has been? A just-released study that scrutinized the coverage paints a quite different story.

“…Sen. Hillary Clinton did not get tougher press coverage than Sen. Barack Obama when it came to the main themes about their character, history, leadership qualities and overall appeal.

In fact, it was just the opposite starting after Clinton criticized the media for being too soft on Obama.”

Clinton’s supporters have also been trying to encourage everyone to boycott MSNBC, the cable network they feel has been most unfair to their candidate.

Wrong again, according to the study:

“For example, 69% of the assertions about Obama on Fox News Channel were positive, versus 54% for Clinton. And both far outdistanced Sen. John McCain, with only 45%.

On CNN, Clinton was the clear winner, with 70% positives versus 59% for Obama and 49% for McCain.

The most even-handed, at least toward the Democrats, was MSNBC, the researchers concluded, with 72% positives for Clinton and 70% for Obama (McCain got 53%).”

It isn’t clear from the report exactly what constitutes a “positive assertion” versus a “negative assertion.” It is most likely that this refers to stories like Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s controversial comments, which — I’m just guessing here — would go in the “negative” column for Obama. It’s also not necessarily realistic to say that these networks are biased towards one side or the other; it’s possible to cover the news of the day, including whatever the controversy du jour happens to be, present fair coverage, and still have the overall tone of the story fall into either the “positive” or “negative” side.

Still, it’s quite interesting that Clinton, who has beaten her “experience” down out throats much the way John Kerry touted his Purple Hearts, and who has complained about being so mistreated by the press (when she wasn’t), managed to get more negative coverage going for her opponent, and still finds herself in such a desperate fight for the nomination she’s not likely to get anyway.

And it also appears to demonstrate that Obama, who got a rougher ride after the media allowed itself to be influenced by the senator from New York’s complaints, has still survived the added scrutiny.

Clinton supporters who have had a hand in this should be ashamed of themselves. And they should rethink their temper-tantrum threats to vote for McCain out of spite if Hillary. The only person making Hillary the underdog is Hillary.

The lesson for the media here, it appears, is to stop listening to candidates who say, “You’re nicer to the other guy.” The lesson for the politically-charged media haters is, perhaps, “Look a little more closely before you complain.”