After 37,162 words and 17 showings of the first attack ad, Sean Hannity asking, "... why are 'they' trying to silence you? Why won't 'they' let this ad run...?";

A second attack ad (not even aired at the time) eagerly teased by Andrea Mitchell, "Let's take a look at it...the new ad... they have not bought time yet.... Take a look."; and

Campaign "advice" from Chris Mathews, "...the only way he (Kerry) is going to change this story is to say he's gay".

Some, apparently fed up with the coverage, openly disagreed with the "opened the door" rationale.

Jeff Greenfield admitted that fault rested with cable news, which he described as, "...an endless mob that has to be fed...". As for the non-starter story, he said, "...it was given a kind of fuel by this very media".

As Kerry's poll numbers dropped, cable began fingerprint removal by relentlessly repeating, "people don't know where he stands", and attributing credit to "Bush's convention bounce".

On September 14th, analyst and poll aficionado Bill Schneider finally pointed out the obvious, "...By late August, the number who said Kerry's military record made them more likely to vote for him had dropped by half. Kerry's advantage was neutralized by the controversy".

He added, "In early August...Kerry had the edge over Bush as the more honest and trustworthy candidate. In late August just before the Republican convention, the advantage had tilted to Bush".

Schneider's "cause and effect" observations were widely... unreported.

Party affiliation, "likeability", and a "man of the people" matter little if a candidate shows contempt for media conglomerates (Dean) or even ambivalence towards them (Kerry). They will be defeated. Even if one is aware of their Creator (Bush) and pays the proper homage, that individual will be taken to the woodshed on occasion just as a reminder of where the real power resides.

True Republicans and real Democrats alike should be aware that if they play the current media game they will allow our democratic process to be hijacked in a way only imagined by William Randolph Hearst.