In the closing days of the 1992 presidential campaign, President George H.W. Bush took to waving a bumper stickerwith the slogan annoy the media/ re-elect bush. Four years later, Senator Bob Dole asked voters to "rise up" against media that were trying to "steal this election." Complaining about the liberal media is a signature of losing Republican campaigns. It doesn't work because whining doesn't look presidential and because annoying the media tends to be pretty low on voters' to-do lists. But now John McCain, who once enjoyed excellent relations with reporters, is criticizing the press. Frustrated by his inability to get attention amid the wall-to-wall coverage of Barack Obama's foreign tour, McCain released a Web ad accusing journalists of nursing crushes on the Democrat. Among the ad's highlights: a clip in which nbc reporter Lee Cowan confesses that "it's almost hard to remain objective" while covering Obama because the energy of his campaign is so "infectious." The ad is lighthearted, but the McCain team's frustration is obvious.
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