A few months ago all the conservatives were tearing CBS apart for their supposed liberal bias demonstrated by a made-for-tv movie about Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Then, about a month ago, they were about to air a whole special on Michael Jackson before he got arrested on child molestation charges.
Now put yourself in their shoes. If they air the ads that people are complaining about (a PETA ad and a negative ad about Bush, both definitively liberal ads) during the most-watched TV slot of the entire year, then everyone will once again complain about how liberal CBS is. They were trying to avoid controversy. Obviously it didn’t work, but I don’t think anyone who’s paying attention can claim that CBS is suddenly a conservative network.