Well, yes the RINO brush is part of it - and there’s more to it than that, but on that track. And ironically, the “blame Bush” mantra of the left only works as well as it does because of how Bush and Rove handled the bully pulpit - or mishandled it - for their 8 years. So yes, I’m blaming Bush, for allowing the opposite side of the blaming Bush phenomenon to happen in the first place.
The sad fact of the matter is the media is so partisan that it wouldn’t have mattered if or how Bush fought back. Plenty of people were out front defending the most absurd accusations but the media just ignored it.