On September 1, Salon.com senior writer Eric Boehlert wrote: “The Bush machine is running one of the dirtiest -- and most effective -- campaigns in modern history” and noted that the “compliant media” has adopted a “double standard” when it comes to President George W. Bush versus Senator John Kerry.

From the September 1 article, published on Salon.com:

Nowhere has that that [sic] double standard been more apparent than when contrasting the way the media have covered the two parties' conventions. Compare the coverage of Bush's colossal blunder on Monday -- telling NBC's Matt Lauer that he didn't think the war on terror was winnable -- with Teresa Heinz Kerry's trivial “shove it” remark during the Democratic Convention in Boston last month. So far, Bush's gaffe has garnered far less coverage than Heinz Kerry's.

Media Matters for America reviewed coverage for the days following Teresa Heinz Kerry's exchange with the editorial page editor of a right-wing newspaper (whom she told to “shove it”) and the three days following Bush's remark that “I don't think we can win” the war on terror (a statement that flatly contradicted a remark he had made one month prior, and that, according to USA Today, he then attempted to “adjust”). MMFA found that the media covered Heinz Kerry's comment on 187 more occasions than they covered Bush's comment in the three days following each incident.

And while media coverage of Bush's remark quickly dropped off -- just three days after he flipped on August 30 and two days after he flopped on August 31, saying that “we will win” the war on terror -- the same was certainly not true for Heinz Kerry's remark, as the following chart illustrates:

Heinz Kerry/
“shove it”Bush/war on terror
unwinnable
Daily TotalCumulative TotalDaily TotalCumulative Total Day 197977575 Day 2241338190265 Day 3227565113378 Day 411668119*397 Day 566747

Day 643790

Day 759849

Day 841890

Day 937927

Day 1036963

Day 1120983

Day 1215998

Methodology: Based on searches of the LexisNexis database of “All News” conducted September 2. Totals for “Heinz Kerry/”shove it" include all hits that return for the search: Teresa Heinz Kerry and “shove it” for July 26-August 6 (Heinz Kerry made the comment on the night of July 25). Totals for “Bush/war on terror unwinnable” include all hits for the search: Bush and “terror OR terrorism” and “I don't think we can win” for August 30-September 2 (Bush made the comment on the morning of August 30).

*As of noon on September 2. Chart will be updated September 3.