SORE WINNERS

Over the weekend, Florida governor Ron DeSantis was the subject of a very harsh story on 60 Minutes. DeSantis responded with fury -- and Axios's Zachary Basu and Mike Allen treated the governor's response as important political news:

DeSantis milks "60 Minutes" spat

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally with his eyes on the White House, is dialing up a dispute with "60 Minutes" — seizing on a juicy chance to ingratiate himself with the GOP base by bashing the media.

Why it matters: It's a political gift akin to all the Fox fodder that Sen. Tom Cotton gobbled up after the N.Y. Times revolt over his op-ed.

It's obvious what Basu and Allen are saying: They, like all savvy political insiders, believe DeSantis has an excellent chance of being the next president of the United States, quite possibly after the 2024 election, and they've gotten on the Ron Train early. They're describing this as a lucky break for him, an opportunity he's grabbing with both hands, given his political astuteness and eye for the main chance. (It's dispiriting that a winner of the 2024 "media primary" can already be declared three years before the Iowa caucuses, but that's how our press operates.)

However, our friends on the right have either failed reading comprehension or believe that being angry when you win is just as lib-owning as being angry when you lose. They've concluded -- or at least are proclaiming -- that this story is bad for DeSantis. In fact, it's a moral outrage!

At National Review, Charles C.W. Cooke writes:

That’s the story, is it? That DeSantis is “seizing” on CBS’s world-class dishonesty? The issue here is his reaction to being so brazenly lied about? The need-to-know précis is that he’s annoyed by the press’s penchant for deliberately spreading baseless conspiracy theories? That he might “bash” those who did it? That he’s been accorded a “juicy chance” to highlight bad behavior?

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey writes:

Wow — DeSantis responded to a hatchet job that tried to smear him as corrupt by “seizing” it, and then “milks” it to, er … defend himself against a yellow-journalism political hit piece. That’s what the guild calls “circling the wagons,” no?

Twitchy's Sarah D. writes:

“60 Minutes” very deliberately assassinated the character of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in their recent piece on his handling of the COVID19 pandemic in his state.

But according to Axios, that’s not the story.

No, the real story, the real scandal, is Ron DeSantis’ reaction to being defamed....

Folks, Basu and Allen are describing this as a "juicy chance" for DeSantis because this is all sport to them, and they think he's having a career year, the kind of year when even luck goes your way. They're taking it as a given that 60 Minutes gave him an opening to complain -- they're not circling the wagons on behalf of CBS at all. This is a good story for DeSantis. Why so grumpy?