McCain camp unhappy with media

WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain's campaign is denouncing unfavorable media coverage as "smear jobs" and "scurrilous attacks," analysts say.

The Politico reported Sunday that criticism by the McCain camp of media bias against him raises the question of whether the Arizona senator can maintain his upbeat image while campaigning against Democrat Barack Obama.

After The New York Times ran a story in February that was widely criticized for intimating that McCain had an inappropriate relationship with a telecommunications lobbyist, McCain adviser Charlie Black said the campaign would "go to war" with the newspaper.

When The Washington Post printed a story in April revisiting McCain's well-known and well-documented outbursts of temper, McCain speechwriter Mark Salter described the story as "99 percent fiction."

"In sum, this is one of the more shoddy examples of journalism I've ever encountered," Salter wrote in an e-mail that was published by National Review. "But for the infamous (Times) story, I'd say it was the worst smear job on McCain I'd ever seen."