After the Associated Press reported that Gwen Iffil failed to inform the Commission on Presidential Debates that she had authored a book about Senator Barack Obama, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” which will be for sale on inauguration day 2009, John McCain lashed out at Iffil implying her obvious bias may be a problem for the debate.

The news that Iffil failed to inform the commission on her pro-Obama book was burried in an AP article, but mentioned nonetheless. This means that Iffil hid important information about herself and her journalistic integrity for the commission and, thus, for both campaigns.

Barack Obama’s campaign will, of course, not be bothered by Iffil’s obvious bias, but the McCain campaign seems to, finally, realize that media bias is not something that should be accepted. The campaign seems to have resigned to the bias, and given up fighting against it. That would, however, be a mistake. They should not give up, for the media have proven to be highly influential and very capable of destroying the chances of the candidate they oppose.

October is no time for complacency. Rather, the McCain campaign should go all out on Obama, and on the media. This means that Palin should show up during tonight’s debate and when the opportunity arrises lash out at Iffil.

Palin should accuse her of bias on stage.

That’s bold, and it would undoubtedly cause some members of the media to open the attack even more on McCain and co. The problem is, however, that they already declared war weeks ago, and that they are winning it at this point in time. Instead of pretending that there is no war, Team McCain should act in its own interest and behave like McCain would behave as president; when a country, I gather, would declare war on the U.S. and attack it whenever possible, something tells me McCain would not be complacent and let them get away with it. Rather, McCain should use the media war as a means to show his toughness and determination.

McCain, meanwhile, appeared complacent, yet again, initially but changed his tone somewhat on “Fox and Friends.” “Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn’t writing a book favorable to Barack Obama — let’s face it,” McCain said on that show.

That is, I fear, too weak. It’s a step in the right direction, but it will not be enough. No. McCain will have to attack Iffil and all members of the media on an unprecendented scale. They have done so to them, he should return the favor.

Meanwhile, he should also take off the gloves when it comes to Obama. He tried playing nice, but he cannot possibly win if Obama has the media on his side, and working actively on his behalf. This means that McCain will have to use all available outlets to attack Obama; his credibility, his character, his record. Obama should not be given a free ride; thus far, he has most certainly been given one, meaning that he has not been vetted well and voters do not truly know what to expect from him once in office.

It does not happen often that I say a politician should fight dirty, but I believe the time has come for McCain to do so. If he does not, he will lose - not because he deserves to lose, or because most Americans oppose his plans for their country, but because the media helped Obama to power.