When they start to pity you...

McCain's Risky Ad Strategy - The Fix

"Sigh," emailed one senior party strategist who later added: "Every Obama ad since his announcement has fit nicely into a theme, an argument. McCain ads are just catch as catch can, one wild swing at Obama after another. Their increasing bitterness reflects a campaign that is more about some sort of therapeutic frustration venting for the staff than any coherent strategy to elect McCain. It's unprofessional to the core."

Another high-level party operative grumbled: "It seems like they are talking to the press pack, not voters."

McCain believed that the press was is base. His base is starting to rebel. Now he is trying to win it back by shaming it and berating it.

(Aside, I've watched the latest McCain ad attempting to paint Obama as nothing more than a celebrity whore and I have to say that it is more laughable than outrageous. The production qualities of it suck and I'm not even an expert on these things. The disconcerting insertion of images of Britney and Paris make it look like a YouTube video. I have to ask again: have all the professional political operatives abandoned McCain?)