alt Hacker NewsThat a Democrat-leaning paper would criticize Republican politicians is not surprising. A better test of independence would be whether they criticize Democratic politicians (when they do things deserving criticism, that is: I don't expect them to criticize policy positions that they agree with, but all politicians do some things, in some cases many things, deserving of criticism).
The point is that they shouldn't be criticizing anyone which I think is the point of independent journalism.
That they publish articles that put Republicans in an unfavorable light is I think because Republicans are doing things that put themselves in an unfavorable light.
To your point, there have been at least a few articles I've seen that put Democrats in an unfavorable light as well.
And for what it's worth I consume news outlets that lean both ways. What's more important to me is factual accuracy.