Rubin’s op-ed (and Oliver’s post above) cherry-picked McCain’s statements and tried to make the false claim that McCain supported diplomacy just like Obama’s did back in July 2007 when he said he would meet “without preconditions”.

My 3:02pm quote from Obama is a recent one, and shows how his policy has gone from meet “without preconditions” to “only meet if they fulfill several preconditions”. In other words, he’s swung 180 degrees from his previous position in his recent attempt to sound tough.

Incidentally, Obama’s current position is the same one that the Bush administration has been following all along. The one that Obama spent a lot of time last year denigrating.

That would be a refreshing change.

Which, according to the statement of Obama that you (Dave in SoCal) yourself quoted from is exactly what Obama’s position is: “We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel’s destruction. We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israe’s right to exist and abide by past agreements.” Not exactly a statement lacking in preconditions.

First of all, please explain how “actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election” is not really an endorsement of Obama.

As for what’s wrong with that, let’s see what Obama himself has to say about it:

“That’s why I have a fundamental difference with President Carter and disagree with his decision to meet with Hamas,” Obama said. “We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel’s destruction. We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel’s right to exist and abide by past agreements.”

“Hamas is not a state. Hamas is a terrorist organization,” he said.

Seems Obama doesn’t consider the Hamas spokesman a “world leader” whose respect we should seek, unlike you.

Rubin: So should we the United States be dealing with that new reality through normal diplomatic contacts to get the job done for the United States?

McCain: I think the United States should take a step back, see what they do when they form their government, see what their policies are and see what ways we can engage them; and if there aren’t any then their may be a hiatus. But I think that part of the relationship is going to be dictated by how Hamas acts, not how the United States acts.

So when asked point-blank about using diplomacy with Hamas, McCain’s response it that we should step back and see what Hamas does, and if there aren’t any ways to engage them then we don’t. This is hardly the “I would meet with [insert name of dictatorship here] without any preconditions” that Obama has espoused.

Rubin cherry picked statements from his interview with McCain and wrote an op-ed around them. And Oliver dutifully lapped it up and passed it on with his own pithy comments like the faithful Obama acolyte that he is.

From your link,

Top Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef:

“We don’t mind–actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance,”

What is so wrong with that?
Not really an endorsement of Obama, but yet another world leader who has more respect and esteem for him than for our current president.

I for one would like our President to be respected even by people or governments that we disagree with.