I'd take it a little further. The media has declared open season on America as we knew it.
I am old enough to have seen with my own eyes what they did to Goldwater in '64.
I went to a rally in west Orange NJ and observed supporters cheering as we entered. Later, on the 11 o'clock news they were misrepresented by the film to be protestors. I never forgot that.
I would agree the assault is on America as we knew it probably because those values are personified in Bush.