The battle over 'bearings'
Posted: Thursday, May 08, 2008 6:32 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
2008, Security, McCain, Obama
From NBC's Mark Murray
Is the Obama vs. McCain now beginning in earnest? On CNN today, Obama said this about McCain's statement that Hamas wants Obama to be president. “This is offensive, and I think it's disappointing, because John McCain always says ‘I am not going to run that kind of politics.’ And to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his."
Obama added, “I’ve said it’s a terrorist organization and we should not negotiate with them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and unless they are willing to abide by previous accords between the Palestinians and the Israelis. So for him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don’t need name calling in this debate.”
The McCain campaign didn't like the "losing his bearings" comment. McCain adviser Mark Salter responded in a memo: "First, let us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama's attack today: He used the words 'losing his bearings' intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain's age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning. We have all become familiar with Senator Obama's new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is."
Salter goes on say, "Obama is complaining about comments John McCain made about a senior Hamas adviser stating that Hamas would welcome Senator Obama's election as president. Indeed, on April 13th, senior Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef said, '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.'"
"The McCain campaign has never suggested that Senator Obama supports Hamas' agenda, but it is more than fair to raise this quote about Senator Obama because it speaks to the policy implications of his judgment. Just today, the president of Iran, whom Senator Obama wants to meet with unconditionally, called the state of Israel a 'stinking corpse.' Iran is the paymaster and state sponsor of Hamas."
