Bridgegate

I haven't bothered to follow "Bridgegate" too closely. But apparently the liberal media has gone overboard in covering the scandal. What's odd about this is the long-term political strategy. Presumably, the liberal media is seizing the opportunity to take down a prominent Republican politician and likely presidential hopeful. Is the objective to preempt him from becoming the GOP nominee? 

If so, what's odd about that strategy is that it does Christie's conservative rivals a favor. Christie would be the candidate favored by the Republican establishment. Backed by party bosses and operatives like Karl Rove. They always go for a "moderate" Republican who's supposedly more electable than a rightwing ideologue–because we've seen how well that worked in the past (e.g. Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney). 

To knock Christie out of the running makes it more likely that a more conservative candidate will get the nomination. It's unclear how that advances the liberal agenda, unless the liberal media is convinced that a conservative has no chance of winning in the general election, whereas Christie might have a shot. Is that the thinking? Or is it just reflexive?