You know what this really is?
TV executives are notorious for taking a show that succeeds and and cloning half-a-dozen others just like it. They are like moths to flames. So, if the election (2000 and 2002) showed that Conservatives are an emerging market (with a bullet?), then the TV execs will naturally move closer to that market (their people are calling our people to do lunch, baby).
The liberals are complaining that they lost their influence in Washington and are now losing their influence in the airwaves. The airwaves were something that they took for granted that they would always control, and they are shocked (shocked!) to find out otherwise.
-PJ