THE MUGGER GETS BUSY: The Mugger is beboppin' and scattin' all over the big media today:

Here’s an idea for the mainstream press: Why not throw a knuckleball from now until Labor Day and replace every political pundit with a film critic? There’s no downside, since the majority of op-ed columns, editorials or "news" articles I’ve seen about the midterm elections–not to mention the 2004 presidential campaign–offer not a clue about the makeup of next year’s Congress.

And this:

It gives me goosebumps when the Times braintrust, surrounded by yes-men in its well-appointed Manhattan offices, speaks for the country’s citizens, as if publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. or editor Howell Raines could possibly identify with people in Arizona, South Carolina, Michigan or Kansas.

And then this:

Finally, leave it to The Nation to intentionally publish anti-Bush propaganda even when they have no facts to back it up. In a May 13 editorial, the fringe-left weekly said: "The ineffable good luck of George W. Bush seems to be faltering at last. The man became President by an electoral accident that resembled theft... Recent events, especially the terrible bloodshed in the Middle East, have uncovered the original truth widely understood about Bush’s stature. Underneath the cowboy lingo, the man is light in substance, weak on strategy and quite willing to cut and run from principled position if he feels a chill wind from politics... Bush made a reluctant foray, then meekly retreated before Sharon’s belligerence, hailing him as ‘a man of peace’ while the UN envoy described Sharon’s accomplishments in the West Bank as ‘horrific and shocking beyond belief.’" Hey, why not just name the morally bankrupt Kofi Annan as president of the entire world! This line is particularly misleading, suggesting that the affluent, white owners and editors of The Nation might want to read publications other than their own: "Domestically, as his inflated poll ratings shrink like an over-valued tech stock, Bush’s presidency is naturally altered." A New York Times/CBS poll published on May 3 showed Bush has a 73-percent approval rating, as well as 60 percent agreeing with his handling of the Middle East crisis. A May 2 USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll puts Bush at 77 percent approval; in addition, 70 percent of those surveyed said that the President deserves to be reelected. Even in California, where Al Gore creamed Bush in 2000, a Field poll conducted in late April shows that in a hypothetical 2004 rematch, Bush would defeat Gore by a margin of 48-41 percent. Call Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel at 212-209-5400 and ask her what "over-valued tech stock" she had in mind. Right now, it looks like a blue-chip to me.