Sure they are. They always do. They always have (I can attest personally.) That's why the media outlets always uses the same words as each other.
Remember that they believe that "if you own the language you own the people."
This latest talking point must be "no matter what our weakness is, tell the GOP they'd be stupid to exploit it."
Thank goodness they are so transparently obvious. We just ignore them and attack as effectively as we can.
Does this mean that they have good OPTICS?
One word: Journolist.