McCain: "Hysterical"
We'll do one more post on this Bush-McCain-Obama battle over Israel/Iraq/Iran/Hamas/Nazi-appeasement because it's one of the first extended exchanges of the campaign, and it sets down some markers.
McCain responds to Obama's remarks in two parts. The first is an e-mail (see full text after the jump) that begins, “It was remarkable to see Barack Obama’s hysterical diatribe in response to a speech in which his name wasn’t even mentioned."
You can watch Obama in the item below. It doesn't even get close to the zone of a "hysterical diatribe." Perhaps the McCain campaign hopes to invent a fictional Obama by misdescribing his behavior, but it might be better to get some credibility with the press by showing some restraint and fidelity to observable facts.
It also says Obama doesn't understand that the US has enemies. Talking to our enemies like Iran is an actual issue on which McCain and Obama disagree, but how does the McCain press shop get to the point of claiming that Obama doesn't understand that America has enemies? When has he ever said Iran and North Korea aren't enemies?
It ends with the assertion that the "American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment and determination to keep us safe.” That seems to be the point of the whole exercise -- like every Republican for time immemorial, McCain plans to paint the Democrat as weak.
The second release is a response to a video of an interview of McCain in 2006, in which he said the US would have to "deal with" Hamas after it won Palestinian elections. The McCain campaign has put out a competing video (below) of other interviews he did -- apparently on the same day -- indicating that Hamas would have to renounce its commitment to the extinction of Israel before we can "do business" with them and "resume the peace process."
Two interpretations: McCain was speaking in shorthand when he didn't mention pre-conditions in the first interview, or he was recognizing that the US would have to "deal with" them in some fashion in any event:
MCCAIN RESPONSE TO OBAMA REMARKS
Please see our campaign’s response to Barack Obama’s remarks in South Dakota about his pledge to unconditional meetings with rogue regimes:
“It was remarkable to see Barack Obama’s hysterical diatribe in response to a speech in which his name wasn’t even mentioned. These are serious issues that deserve a serious debate, not the same tired partisan rants we heard today from Senator Obama. Senator Obama has pledged to unconditionally meet with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- who pledges to wipe Israel off the map, denies the Holocaust, sponsors terrorists, arms America’s enemies in Iraq and pursues nuclear weapons. What would Senator Obama talk about with such a man? It would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don’t have enemies. But that is not the world we live in, and until Senator Obama understands that, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment and determination to keep us safe.” ---Tucker Bounds, spokesman John McCain 2008
Additionally, see the points below which refute Barack Obama’s mischaracterization of Secretary Gates’ position as support for his unconditional meetings between the President of the United States and rogue regimes:
Sec. Of Defense Robert Gates Said That The U.S. Should Look For Ways To Engage Iran, But Did Not Say The President Should Meet With Iran Without Preconditions During His Or Her First Year In Office. “The United States should construct a combination of incentives and pressure to engage Iran, and may have missed earlier opportunities to begin a useful dialogue with Tehran, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday.” (Karen DeYoung, “Gates: U.S. Should Engage Iran With Incentives, Pressure,” The Washington Post, 5/15/08)
Gates Advocated Engaging Iran Outside Of Government Channels. “In the meantime, Gates told a meeting of the Academy of American Diplomacy, a group of retired diplomats, ‘my personal view would be we ought to look for ways outside of government to open up the channels and get more of a flow of people back and forth.’ Noting that ‘a fair number’ of Iranians regularly visit the United States, he said, ‘We ought to increase the flow the other way . . . of Americans’ visiting Iran.” (Karen DeYoung, “Gates: U.S. Should Engage Iran With Incentives, Pressure,” The Washington Post, 5/15/08
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