Mainstream Media – Sportswriters or Wrestling Fans?

I’ve been giving quite a bit of thought to the notion that today’s mainstream media most closely resembles a home-town Democrat sports page when it comes to political coverage. While this idea certainly has merit, I have to say that it actually falls short of another analogy: the mainstream media seems to resemble, by-and-large, fans of the World Wrestling Federation. (It’s actually the “WWE” these days, but the notion that anyone could possibly mistake a “wrestling” league for the World Wildlife Foundation. – ed.)
Long-time fans of the WWF will be intimately acquainted with such terms as heel, face, turn, tweeners, pop/heat (in relation to going “over” with a crowd) and the sell. I’ve linked to approximate definitions of each term so that those not familiar with the “wonders” of “professional” “wrestling” won’t be left in the dark.
If one were to break televised wrestling down into its component parts, it’s actually quite simple (I’ve heard it described as “soap opera for rednecks and frat boys,” a fairly apt description): “matches” (and the inter-match dialog, stare-downs, betrayals, muggings, etc.) serve to advance an overarching storyline. This storyline, while not necessarily the most coherent of things, often boils down to “faces” (heroes) facing all manner of adversities in order to ultimately defeat “heels” (bad guys), who are prone to using every dirty trick in the book in order to prevent faces from obtaining a series of “championship” belts. Sometimes the heels win, sometimes the faces do – it’s all a part of an ongoing struggle between “good” and “evil”.
In the wrestling world, there are few hard-and-fast rules, but for the most part, audiences are expected to cheer for faces, boo heels and deplore any sort of trickery, unless it happens to be perpetrated by a well-known face in pursuit of a larger goal. How do you know/keep track of who the heels and faces are? In many cases, you’re just supposed to know. If a wrestler routinely acts in a dishonorable fashion, he’s a heel and should be booed at every occasion. Those that are routinely faced with near-insurmountable obstacles and are able to overcome, often gaining strength from the cheers of the audience are faces. Above all, unless you’re seriously daft, you’re supposed to adore faces and deplore heels (at least until they turn and become tweeners or even full on faces). Any other behavior is looked upon with a suspicious eye, as actually rooting for heels can be an indicator of some deep seated character flaws.
It seems as though, for the most part, the mainstream press long ago decided that “Democrat/liberal == face” and “Republican/conservative == heel” and their recent editorial arguments and seeming frustration with people’s inability to comprehend this simple principle serve as ample evidence to that fact.
What follows is how I imagine their thought process:

How can people stomach that insufferable heel, George Bush? It’s as though half of America were rooting for the Iron Sheikh and Sgt. Slaughter against Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania! I mean, can you imagine that? How stupid can people be!?! Clearly, Dubya the Terrible must be defeated. The Heavyweight Championship simply has to pass back into the right hands!
I mean, sure, some silly Iowans picked Ted Dibiasi, uhhm, John “Lt.-I-Might-Have-Slaughtered” Kerry for our face (when clearly Howard “The Ultimate Non-Warrior” Dean would have been the preferred choice), but what choice do we have now? JK is slated to take on Dumbya at the next Pay-Per-View.
Obviously, any amount of run-ins by other faces are acceptable, as long as they benefit us. Michael “Earthquake” Moore? Hooray! He always picks the best theme music! Did you see Obama deliver the People’s Elbow, errm, Speech? That was incredible! Oooh, here come the heels! Booo, John Ashcroft! Why’s he evil, you ask? I mean, just look at him!
I can’t believe how evil they all are! Patriot-Act-Kyoto-non-compliance-Belligerence-abroad-Alienating-allies-AWOL-Halliburton-Right-Wing-Smear-Machine! Sorry, that slipped out.
Wait, who do these Swift Boat guys think they are? SBVFT? You can’t even pronounce that! At least nWo sounded cool. No fair, they brought steel chairs into the ring! Hey, FEC, come on, can’t you see they’re using an illegal move on JK?
This sucks! Our guy’s strength is being sapped by all the undercard characters! He won’t have enough to last through the Rage in the Cage!
Maybe if we just cheer loud enough, it will egg him on to victory. I mean, he has to win, right?
Right?

I leave it up to you, humble readers, as to which analogy is more apt.