The SCLM two-step

So, let me get this straight: a 59-year-old Democratic senator from a state with a Republican governor has major surgery, and the media mavens are falling all over themselves to discuss how it will affect control of the Senate, etc., etc.

Meanwhile, on the same day, a 70-year-old Republican senator from a state with a Democratic governor has major surgery, and ... crickets.

Look, I know Sen. Johnson's condition, AVM, or arteriovenous malformation, is probably more serious than Sen. Dole's hip replacement surgery. But, optimistically, there's no reason why Sen. Johnson's recovery should take appreciably longer than Sen. Dole's. At the very least, it's irresponsible journalism to assume the worst.

It's common to take several days for someone to wake up after AVM surgery, said Dr. Sean Grady, neurosurgery chairman at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Someone who is awake and alert and talking in the first day or two typically has a shorter recovery — in the range of 4 to 8 weeks, he said. If it takes longer to wake up, it in turn takes more months to recover.

Point is, right now, we just don't know, any more than we know if Sen. Dole might have some post-operative complications from her hip replacement.

In the final analysis, it's just another chapter in the sad, sordid decline of American media - now more right-wing than ever.

UPDATE (4:52 pm 12/14/06): There's also the issue of Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.), who was diagnosed last month with leukemia. Wyoming's governor is a Democrat. Have we heard much about that? Nope.