I'd rather have Hamas approve of my candidacy than Bush.

We've had 8 years of the worst Presidency in the history of our nation and McCain is offering 4 more years of exactly the same.

You'd have to be wacked on crack not to welcome a Obama Presidency.

And Obama's not even begun to mess with the old man' s head

Looking for bearings lost

A-Freaking-Men.

Why isn't anyone in the media, punditocracy and bloggosphere--including progressive sites like this--come out and state the obvious which is that there NEVER was a Hamas endorsement. You here at TPM decry the MSM's free ride of McCain and do the same thing by using cutesy little euphemisms like "alleged". Is this how you guys will cover the General? God.

Didn't Al-Qaeda endorse McCain?

Does Hamas wish ill upon the US? I assume McCain would say yes.

So if Hamas wishes us ill, and wants a president that is the lesser threat to them, might they "endorse" Obama in order to hurt his chances.

Sort of like Bin Laden allegedly saying he wants the US to leave Iraq.

Bottom line: the motives these organizations have for saying these things are not known and vary. Only a real loser who has no idea about being a good president would parrot their statements and try and use them politically.

So McCain is going to be semi-passive aggressive.

That's just pathetic! I know it's BS but voters should get the chance to think that it's real.

Have you noticed McCain's tell? He tries to laugh it off when he's lying. Today when he was asked about his Bush vote in 2000; it was an obvious lie. I think this will be something to watch for in the coming months.

That journalist, Aaron Klein, who writes for WorldNetDaily, is the source of that Hamas endorsement smear. He's not a credible journalist.

Klein's book,[7][8][9] based on his interviews with terrorists, was released in September 2007 with the title, Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal their Global Plans - to a Jew!

Some chapters of the book include terrorist leaders threatening to kill Madonna and Britney Spears,[10][11] for “tempting men in order to put them far from Islam,” and approving Rosie O'Donnell, who has said that people “shouldn't ‘fear the terrorists’ because they're ‘mothers and fathers,’ and has pushed the conspiracy theory that the collapse of WTC 7 was engineered by the government.”[12]

The book also got some media attention for a chapter in which terrorist leaders state on the record they endorse Hillary Clinton for president in 2008.

"I hope Hillary is elected in order to have the occasion to carry out all the promises she is giving regarding Iraq," stated Ala Senakreh, West Bank chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group.[13]

According to reports, of the dozens of terrorist leaders interviewed in "Schmoozing" every one stated they hope a Democrat becomes president in 2008.[14]

Klein's also written about a Hamas endorsement of Hillary Clinton here at this link:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmYwYTFhZDU1MjllMjUwODg3MDYxMTgzNDk2OTNjODM=

and Klein did the same thing to Kerry here by saying Hamas endorsed him:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmZmMWNmMzAxNTVmYjk0NzQxNTU5YTViMTE4NDQ1NmI=

This guy is NOT credible, and John McCain should not be using him as a source for the smear against Obama.

If Hamas could get gas prices to pre-Bush levels, heck, I'd vote for them.

If the voters think that this is an important issue it is because the McCain campaign decided that the voters should think that this is an important issue.

Ahhhh, the typical Republican playbook for campaigning...even though there is no truth to it and we have absolutely no basis of evidence for such accusation, we'll pander to our base voters and still pull anything we can out of our ass to fend off our opponent!

As a Democrat, I used to have so much respect for McCain - even hoping he'd one day switch parties, like we all thought he would in 2000!

But that McCain is long gone - long sucked up into the incubus of evil, abandoning all he once believed in to pander to those who can help him politically.

Now the man is a joke - a literal joke! And this is the best the GOP can put against Obama this November??? I almost feel sorry for them...ALMOST!

McCain wants Hamas to affect the US presidential election. That's why he's raising the issue in his campaign. McCain believes that Hamas' opinion will change votes.

Normally, career US officials like McCain work very hard to play down outsiders trying to effect undue influence on what we do, especially when the outsiders are considered to be terrorists or harbor terrorism.

But here's McCain, in the infinite wisdom of his campaign's inner circle, advocating distribution of the opinions of a terrorist organization in the hope that more people won't think ill of him than people will think ill of Obama because of Hamas' statement.

Yes, Senator McCain, I do think what Hamas thinks is interesting and even important. I think what you say and do with it is moreso.

First the Republicans take military strategic advice from Al Qaeda. "Look Al Qaeda says Iraq is the central front on terrorism. Divert all military resources from Afghanistan and Pakistan there on the double"

Now they want to decide the presidency of the United States on what Hamas says. "Look Hamas says they can work with Obama. Put the war mongering McCain in the oval office on the double.

Anyone else get the impression that if the Republicans were a guy, he'd be sending money from his email Viagra buying fund to Nigeria in order to retrieve his winnings from a lottery.

Senator McCain, you don't wanna go there?

Shall we make a list of all the extremists who suport your candidacy? I have a feeling it will be a lot scarier than anyone supportign Obama.

" . . . it's also a fact that a spokesperson from Hamas said that he approves of Obama's candidacy. I think that's of interest to the American people."

Clearly, then, if and when David Duke and his organization, the Ku Klux Klan, John Birch Society, the veterans of Pinochet's death squads, the Trilateral Commission (had to throw that in there), Lyndon LaRouche, Sun Myung Moon, James Dobson, Fred Phelps, and any other lunatic out there says they approve of McCain's candidacy, that will be of interest to the American people, too. Right?

When is the MSM going to remind voters that it was Bush who over the objections of the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority pushed for the Palestinian elections which lead to Hamas ascension to power?

Hamas has done far better under the Bush administration than they did under Clinton or would do under Obama. I am sure like Al-Qaeda, Hamas is privately rooting for a McCain presidency so the clash of civilizations which they so desperately want and benefit from can continue for four more years.

If this "endorsement" is true, then, clearly, Hamas wants McCain to win.

So much for Cindy "I'll never show the American people who filthy stinking rich their First Lady Is" McCain's promise that the campaign wouldn't get dirty.

I'm sorry, McCitizen, but your reasoning is flawed. Insofar as you assume that the potential overlap between group XYZ and candidate A is necessarily bad, you automatically jump to a conclusion that does not follow from the premises. In other words, your argument is a classic non sequitar.

If, for example, group XYZ thought that candidate B would wage an unjustified 100 year war against the middleeast, would they not be justified in supporting candidate A, who just might use soft-power as a means to bring about peace?

Further still, wouldn't this then mean that group XYZ could be supporting candidate A for reasons not directly related to their condition, but say, for the good of others, with whom they are closely allied?

Again, insofar as you also assume that group XYZ merely supports candidate A so that they can obtain their immediate goals, which are directly related to their well being and no one elses, you fall into another non sequitar.

And if you're going to assume that group XYZ has done things in the past, which automatically disqualifies them from making a reasoned judgment, this time, then you would be falling into another logical fallacy. Just because I reasoned incorrectly on 99 prior occassions, does not necessarily entail that I will reason incorrectly on the 100th occassion. Of course the liklihood may be that my reasoning on the 100th occassioned is flawed, but that need not necessarily be the case (note how I use the modal term "necessarily").

Thus, McCitizen, I think it would be wise for you to leave the reasoning to the adults. Nice try, though.

What McCain is doing is so high school. Clinton did the same thing by saying something to the effect by saying [paraphrasing] 'I take him on his word that he is a Christian'. Thus far the only high school moment I have caught Obama on is his comment "you are likeable enough Hillary" (I laughed!)

It is all ugly, but it is worse a large electorate believes this is all it takes to be informed.

Funny. I've heard that line of argument before from someone else. Recently in fact. I think it was somewhere during the Dem primary...

McCain thinks it is fine to attempt to hang Hamas around Obama's neck but he is thin skinned about Obama saying McCain is losing his bearings. It's time for McCain to grow up.

McCain is no different than all the other Republicans. He has voted with them overwhelmingly, kept quiet during their most agregious crimes and flipped for the President and his criminal Administration when called on to do so. Why would anyone think he wouldn't approve of sleazy campaigning? The Democrats have their work cut out for them. We are going to have the hound the media to get fair coverage of dirty campaign tactics and McCains defiencies.

Stopping the constant Feed into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve ought to help immediately. I bet PBO* will do that.

*PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Let me just point out that Hamas is crazy, not stupid, and is politically savvy enough to beat Fatah running on issues besides Israel.
They know full well that any endorsement would hurt the one endorsed, so they cannot be stating that they like Obama because they really like him, but because they want to damage him, especially given that they told a western journalist (allegedly).

Oh, look. Another politician who will say and do anything to appeal to racist retards.

get a photo of him surrounded by uniforms, and give him a hitler stash

McCain is playing to fears that Hamas wants Obama because Obama's not as tough as the ol' Maverick is. Mo thanks to anymore, "My stick's bigger then your stick" saber rattling. It's gotten us to where we are today. You only need to wave a big stick on the outside if you're a moron on the inside.