The MSM hasn't challenged the white house in several decades - the only people that have been doing consistent criticism are the partisan media outlets. The only exceptions that come to mind are Clinton's universal health care coverage proposal in the early 90's (attacked for obvious reasons), the Monika Lewinski affair (which was a personal attack, not a policy attack) and some of the coverage of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, which was such a stunning and total government failure that it caused a couple of journalists to briefly transform from professional robots into human beings (a shocking moment to be sure).

Anyway I think this is just another sign of Bush increasingly going for broke, which, come to think of it, is the road he's been on since his infamous "mission accomplished" speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003.

you are the media you consume.