Amazing. The McCain camp is pulling the "accuse the other guy of exactly what we're doing" Republican gambit. I wonder if it will ever be pointed out in the MSM that McCain actually sent a delegation to Georgia, directly interfering with the negotiation process.

I wonder if the Obama campaign will ever get tired of hoping (in vain) that the MSM will do what THEY need to be doing. They'd be immune to this kind of thing now if they'd hammered McCain's long and extensive Georgia connection as the character issue that it so blatantly is- allowing hired lobbyists for a foreign government to dictate the foreign policy of a potential President, how unpatriotic is THAT?

Now if I had more faith in the Obama Camp, one might think this is a trap set for McCain.

An adviser giving advice on a peace agreement? Scandalous. The MSM will not call McSurge's attacks on Obama's patriotism what they are, dishonorable and dishonest, yet the NYT drops this in McCain's lap just as this missile crap is starting anew.

Hey Greg, headline should've been, "Despite the obvious hypocrisy, McCain Campaign Likely To Critize Obama Over Adviser's Visit To Syria."

Or was that just implied?

I hope Obama won't throw this guy under the bus. Syria's foreign minister has explicitly stated that Syria wants peace with Israel, so it is in everyone's interest to encourage dialogue. Bush and McCain have even opposed Israel's indirect discussions with its neighbor Syria. So Obama should go on the offensive about the need to pursue tough diplomacy versus what we get from McCain, which is ONLY war talk.

The campaign quotes in that Sun article make them seem like they're already scared pussies on the defensive.

Did Lindsay Grahm (sp?) even go to Georgia? He's been attached to McCain's hip (so to speak) for the past week, as far as I can tell.

Here's hopin' the MSM can step up and call McCain out for his magnificent hypocrisy.

It doesn't really matter. If it's not this, it's something else. Remember the waning days of the Dem primaries? Daily Clinton conference calls launching yet another attack, on yet another issue. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and the McCain camp knows this. As long as fits into the media narrative for your opponent, the press will probably run with it.

Much as I like the idea of "high road" politics, I'm not an advocate of bringing knives to gunfights. Obama needs surrogates out there NOW, beating McCain over the head with 7 years of Bush failure.

"It's hard to predict in advance how this will play -- after all, the Obama campaign explicitly said that Kurtzer isn't a paid adviser and isn't authorized to conduct talks with any government. But it's the sort of thing that the McCain campaign might be able to get the media to play up."

The Mccain campaign isn't interested in whether or not it's charges are true, only whether or not they work. The media is only too happy to play along and report every single charge as if it has merit.

I'm beginning to think that the American people will get exactly the government they deserve if they fall for it again!

Perhaps we should start talking about how John McCain eats puppies for breakfast, and likes to strangle kittens before dinner.

The Obama camp should tap a tough, smart, witty and unflappable Jewish surrogate to take on Guliani over this effort to interfere with the efforts of our special friend and ally Israel to advance peace in the ME.

I nominate Mark J Green, former Guliani nemesis and current head of Air America, for the job. I've seen him in action on MSNBC and he takes no prisoners; smiling genially while sticking in the shiv.

I think the neocons advising John's campaign may have made a tactical error here as their Likudnik POV is waaaaaaaaaaay off base from what most Americans hope for when it comes to Israel and a more peaceful ME.

If the issue is framed in a manner that asks why John MCCain would oppose Israeli efforts to negotiate agreements with their Syrian neighbor, it could build perception that McCain's advocacy for aggressive militancy is not only dangerous for Americans, but also threatens Israeli lives by blatantly interfering with the peaceseeking ambitions of the only democracy in the ME.