Friday, May 16, 2008

McCain Tries To Have Hamas Both Ways

One thing that is for sure when sizing up McCain, you never know what you are going to get from one day to the next. Lately he has been criticizing Barack Obama for wanting to talk to world leaders that we do not see eye to eye with. One such political organization is Hamas and McCain has been consistent on harping on that point. Forget the fact that Reagan made illegal deals with Iran and the current Bush has talked with Syria, McCain has also advocated for talking with (gasp!) Hamas as recently as 2006.

From The Huffington Post:


Two years ago, in an interview with James Rubin for Sky News, Sen. John McCain expressed a willingness to negotiate with the terrorist group Hamas -- the very group that McCain has been relentlessly using to smear Sen. Barack Obama over the last several weeks.

Rubin has written an op-ed in Friday's Washington Post about his exchange with McCain, and The Huffington Post has obtained exclusive video. Here's the key excerpt:

RUBIN: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"

McCAIN: "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 towards 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."


Hmm, well that doesn't exactly mesh well with the current set of right-wing talking points. Crazy bastards like Kevin James probably wouldn't agree with allowing for democracy if it means allowing Hamas to have political power. McCain and his cheerleaders can't have it both ways. Either you deal with the world in realistic terms or take your delusional fairy tales elsewhere.