Democrats accuse McCain of hypocrisy on Hamas (Was For Talking To Hamas Before He Was Against It)

[sabra]

Source: AP

Democrats accused Sen. John McCain Friday of hypocrisy on the question of whether the United States should negotiate with terrorists and dictators, saying the certain Republican nominee had previously been willing to negotiate with the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

In an op-ed published Friday in The Washington Post, former Clinton State Department official James Rubin said that McCain, responding to a question in a television interview two years ago about whether U.S. diplomats should be working with the Hamas government in Gaza, said:

"They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy toward Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so ... But it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."

Rubin, who interviewed McCain for the British network Sky News, said McCain is "guilty of hypocrisy" and accused him of "smearing" Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama. On Thursday, McCain suggested that Obama was naive and inexperienced for expressing a willingness to meet with rogue leaders like Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/16/politics/p062008D18.DTL&type=politics

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I just finished the op-ed in the Washington Post with the full story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503306.html

"Even if McCain had not favored doing business with Hamas two years ago, he had no business smearing Barack Obama. But given his stated position then, it is either the height of hypocrisy or a case of political amnesia for McCain to inject Hamas into the American election."

[Happyhippychick]

2. McClone is losing his bearings again.

[ToughLuck]

3. McCain will lose this election because he is a complete hypocrit.

Bush, the Republicans, McCain campaigners will use what they know best, fear. This time the public is more aware than before, imo. Keep it up McCain, the loser who lost his balls, not just his bearings on foreign policy, but torture as well.

[frylock]

4. this guy makes reagan look like he was on the ball..

and make no mistake, this is exactly what the neocons want; some doddering old fool who spends the majority of the day napping.

[Supersedeas]

5. when will the Free Ride end??