"When the senior Bush prepared to announce his candidacy, in 1987, he gave unusually close access to Margaret Warner, at the time a correspondent for Newsweek. Warner prepared a generally sympathetic profile, but the piece also took into account what she described as Bush's 'potentially crippling handicap' -- a perception that he wasn't tough enough for the job. This notion [to the dismay of Bush and Warner alike] was captured on the cover by these words: 'Fighting the Wimp Factor.'"

[Hence Bush's distrust of the press -- a sentiment passed on to George W. Bush, whose administration, many claimed, was the most media-shy in presidential history.]

["Even President Kennedy, who liked journalists and was masterly in his manipulation of them, complained to the Times about David Halberstam's early reporting of the Vietnam conflict, and, angry over coverage of his Administration, cancelled the White House subscription to the Herald Tribune."]