Those Stupid Republicans

Toby Harnden at his blog over at the London Telegraph makes some good points about Chevy Chase's recent comments praising the late Gerald Ford. He reminds us how much our image of President Ford was shaped by Chase's skits portraying him as a doofus and a klutz.
He goes on to make a point that I first heard from Richard Reeves years ago, that if the media couldn't get away with making a Republican president look evil then it would make him look stupid instead.
Harnden says...

"Have you noticed how Republicans are always portrayed by comedians as stupid?
Come to think of it, with Republicans it's stupid or evil - Nixon (evil), Ford (stupid), Reagan (stupid), Bush Snr (stupid), Bush Jnr (stupid and evil). Chase is on record as calling George W. Bush worse than stupid - a "dumb f----" who "started a jihad", an "uneducated, real lying schmuck". So as he goes to his maker maybe poor old Jerry Ford should be grateful he only got saddled with being stupid. And whatever one's politics, those Chevy Chase sketches were pretty damn funny."

I would rank the media more like this...
Nixon = Evil
Ford = Stupid
Reagan = Stupid
Bush Sr. = Stupid
Bush Jr. = Stupid, but manipulated by Cheney who is evil