Maybe Mr. Clinton has taken a fall though Washington's certainty of this in itself argues against it but the theory that Mr. Bush benefits by his polite contrast to his predecessor's noisy exit is demonstrably wrong. That din is perhaps the inevitable product of the Clinton era. But we're spoiled, and the doses of action, rage and violence must be constantly ratcheted up to keep us high. Conservatives like William Bennett and Lynne Cheney are fond of citing our coarse entertainment phenomena as proof of the moral decline of America. Yet the Clinton years actually brought a moral boom.
Cable news is in near-collapse.
This is why Wednesday's Congressional hearings into the networks' Election Night flubs were beside the point. There is a bias in TV news but it's in favor of drama, not party. With luck, of course, TV news may also be bailed out indefinitely by Mr. Clinton. The nightly news is already abandoning him. So could a country that now tolerates just about anything from its politicians and entertainers alike except being bored.