If you thought the pro-Kerry mass media was going to roll over and die in light of President Bush's rising poll numbers, think again. The networks aren't giving up. This morning on their Sunday morning talk shows, they trotted out Republican Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska (to CBS' "Disgrace the Nation" -- oops, "Face the Nation") and Richard Lugar of Indiana (to ABC's "This Week") to bash away at President Bush and the war in Iraq.

        This afternoon, both ABC and CBS radio news reports took glee in highlighting the Senators' criticisms of Bush and the Iraq war and identifying them as Republicans. The message: The war in Iraq is a mess and Bush is at fault because these "Republicans" say so.

        The only problem is that this is part of a repeating strategy -- er, pattern -- by the networks in trotting out these two clowns. The truth is that Hagel and Lugar have been the networks' Bush-bashing Republican poster boys for years now. Hagel and Lugar have been impugning Bush and Iraq for a long time, as evidenced in part here and here.

        It's like the networks have a mantra, "If the rough gets going, call Lugar and Hagel to tackle Bush."

 

TheMediaReport.com says ... The pro-Kerry media is invigorated and on the move.