NY Times: McCain Already Lying About Obama

Pretty good read today about the desperation and lies emerging from the McCain camp:

Speaking at a news conference in New Jersey, Mr. McCain said he believed that comments made by a Hamas leader approving Mr. Obama’s candidacy were “a legitimate point of discussion,” and he went on to accuse Mr. Obama of agreeing to negotiate with the president of Iran, who on Wednesday referred to Israel as “a stinking corpse facing annihilation.” He described that as “a distinct difference between myself and Senator Obama.”

Mr. Obama has not let attacks go unanswered. On Thursday, he replied by saying that Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, was “losing his bearings” and engaging in “smear” tactics. “My policy toward Hamas has been no different than his,” Mr. Obama said in an interview on CNN....

But important nuances appear to have been lost in the partisan salvos, particularly on Mr. McCain’s side. An examination of Mr. Obama’s numerous public statements on the subjects indicates that he has consistently condemned Hamas as a “terrorist organization,” has not sought the group’s support and does not advocate immediate, direct or unconditional negotiations with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president....

Mr. Obama has been clear in making a distinction between his willingness to talk “not just to countries we like, but those we don’t,” as he puts it, and Hamas and other political movements similar to it. “Hamas is not a state,” Mr. Obama told a Jewish group last month. “Hamas is a terrorist organization.”

Responding to Mr. McCain’s accusations in an interview with CNN on Thursday, Mr. Obama elaborated on that position. He again called Hamas a terrorist group and said that “we should not talk to them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence and are willing to abide by previous accords” that Israel has negotiated with its neighbors and with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

That is not a new position for Mr. Obama. In 2006, he, like Mr. McCain, was a co-sponsor of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, which called on “members of the international community to avoid contact with and refrain from financially supporting the terrorist organization Hamas” until it met all of the same requirements that Mr. Obama enumerated again on Thursday.

So the gist of it is, McCain is a scoundrel and a liar. This Hamas bullshit undermines all his talk of running a "respectable campaign". Already Time magazine is calling on McCain to stop the "sleaze".

Maybe he really does want to just repeat all the mistakes of the Clinton campaign. Run on experience during a change election. Make fake claims of "readiness" and avoid tough questions about his bad judgement. Smear Obama with the lowest of race-based attacks. Bring up Rev. Wright every chance he gets.

If this is the kind of campaign McCain wants to run, he'll do even worse in the election than I've been predicting. He's playing to people's worst instincts at a time when Americans are just tired of all that.

Let's not forget what just happened, folks. Barack Obama, a black guy, just took down the number one name brand in Democratic politics. Clinton was leading by 20% in the polls all of last year. In October she was leading 68-25% amongst black women. She had 100% name recognition. She raised more money than he did. Before the first votes were cast, Clinton had 169 superdelegates while Obama only had 63. Yet he took her down without breaking a sweat.

There is a train coming down the tracks, full steam, and McCain better bring some better game if he thinks he can stop it.