Projection? Or just blurry vision?

It's been said that people often project their own motives and tendencies when assuming the motives of others. I've found this to be quite true in many cases. Often, when people assume that others are lying to them or rejecting them, it is often because that is the natural tendency of the person assuming such things--to lie to and/or reject others. On the flipside, good people often assume that all people have good intentions toward them, leaving them a bit vulnerable to disappointment and possible harm due to naivete.

Liberals assume a great deal about the motives of conservatives, particularly those of non-WASP status. This begs the question, if liberals are so free to assume that Dennis Prager is taking payoffs from Christians because he supports them, that our soldiers routinely torture and murder innocent civilians all over the world, that our president knowingly misled the world about the war, what then does that say about the tendencies and motives of those liberals? If they always assume that decisions are made out of deceit and corruption, could they be projecting their own values, or lack thereof, upon those in positions of power?

Just a thought I've been ruminating on a few years now.