http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1839416,00.html<snip>
For the past week, the campaign has written off much of the skepticism about the qualifications of vice presidential pick Sarah Palin as the reaction of a biased media establishment out of touch with real Americans. "She's not part of the Washington D.C. cocktail circuit," Steve Schmidt, one of McCain's senior advisers, told TIME. "Elite opinion looks down with contempt at people who are not part of their world."
Left unmentioned was the fact that McCain himself has been an A-List member of the Washington elite since he arrived in the capital more than 30 years ago....
Whether the confusion between news sources is real — and it's understandable, given the dramatic changes in the media landscape between the 2004 and 2008 elections — or convenient strategy, there's no question that anger at the press can be effective. It may even help McCain narrow his longstanding "enthusiasm gap" — the glaring difference between the intensity of support for McCain compared to support for Obama — with the Republican base. But some Republicans worry that neither play will lift McCain to victory in November. "They're getting the base excited, that's obvious," says a GOP strategist not affiliated with the campaign. "But these are tactics that get you to 45 percent. I don't see their strategy to get McCain to 50 percent. And {by attacking the media} they're doing harm to McCain's brand."
Said another GOP consultant attending the festivities in St. Paul: "Attack the media is what you do when you're losing."