The media doesn’t want him dead so they can compound the failure of not catching UBL with his other failures in the WOT as they see it and want people to believe. They want Democrats back in power. If they show Republicans as inept fools who can’t catch one man then more people believe Democrats are a viable alternative.
Actually, if we prove OBL dead, the entire WoT is over. That would be all the excuse the lib Republicans needed to bail. “OK, we got the guy who started this. Now let’s bring ‘em home.” You’re right that they want to blame “Bush’s failure,” but OBL is better to the cause of killing these terrorists “alive” than dead.