McCain reacts to Rubin, Obama
Posted: Saturday, May 17, 2008 1:23 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Security
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and Mark Murray
Last night, McCain spoke with NBC about yesterday's Rubin flap. He called Rubin's op-ed "an obvious distortion" and said of Obama: "I hope he would condemn it."
"I don't know how [Obama] would react to what was an obvious distortion article that appeared in, on the op-ed page of the Washington Post today. I hope he would condemn it. But look, the point is that, the larger picture is that Senator Obama wants to sit down and negotiate with a leader of a country that's dedicated to the extinction of Israel. That just in the last few days called Israel a stinking corpse. That is a state sponsor of terror. There are explosive devices that they're sending into Iraq that are killing young Americans. I would never do that. And I think it is a mark of the inexperience that Senator Obama displays. And I think Americans will make a judgment accordingly."
Also last night, the McCain campaign pushed back even harder against Rubin, producing the full SkyNews exchange between Rubin and McCain regarding Hamas. The campaign says the full exchange shows McCain's consistency: that he would reach out to Hamas only if it met certain conditions.
Below is the exchange...
Jamie Rubin: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have been in the past, in working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is in now charge?"
McCain: "They're the government and sooner or later we're going to have to deal with them in one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas is because of their dedication to violence and the things they not only espouse but practice, so, but it's a new reality in the Middle East. And I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and a decent future then they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."
Rubin: "So should 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 the ways that we can engage with them, and if there aren't any, there may be a hiatus. But I think part of the relationship is going to be dictated by how Hamas acts, not how the United States acts."
