Lieberman: Obama's Alleged Endorsement By Hamas Shows "Difference" With McCain

Lieberman: Obama's Alleged Endorsement By Hamas Shows "Difference" With McCain

By Greg Sargent - May 12, 2008, 9:23AM

It was only a matter of time, really. If you ever doubted that Joe Lieberman would be using what's left of his "Independent Democrat" credentials to legitimize the GOP's bogus "Hamas endorsed Obama" attack, here he is on CNN doing just that...

When Wolf Blitzer pointed out that Obama also labels Hamas a terrorist organization, making his position the same as McCain's, Lieberman said, "that's true," adding that Obama "clearly doesn't support any of the values and goals of Hamas."

Then, with depressing predictability, came the inevitable caveat:

But the fact that the spokesperson for Hamas would say they would welcome the election of Senator Obama really does raise the question, "Why?"

And it suggests the difference between these two candidates.

Lieberman is clearly emerging as a chief attack-dog for McCain on foreign policy, and here he is echoing McCain's talking points with unerring precision: While we all know that Obama doesn't in any way support Hamas or its goals, it's okay to use the group to tar the Illinois Senator anyway, merely because McCain and the Republicans want to.

One wonders whether Harry Reid will keep this sort of stuff in mind when considering committee chairmanships in 2009.

Gay Paper: Obama Refuses To Talk With Gay Media

Gay Paper: Obama Refuses

To Talk With Gay Media

The Huffington Post

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The Philadelphia Gay News is hammering Barack Obama for what they say is his consistent refusal to speak to gay media outlets.

In its latest issue, the paper features a front-page interview with Hillary Clinton and a large blank space under a photo of Barack Obama, with a banner headline reading, "Clinton Talks, Obama Balks."

The paper's accompanying editorial states:

At this point in the Democratic presidential campaign, we're able to view the candidates by their actions. And we have found that Sen. Barack Obama would rather talk at the LGBT community than with them...

The fact is that Obama has spoken with the gay press only twice, and one of those interviews...was in 2004, before he became a U.S. senator. The other limited interview occurred after controversy erupted when his campaign added an anti-gay minister to his tour of the South. It has now been 1,522 days since Obama has been accessible to our community.

You can read the full interview with Clinton here, and CBS News' coverage here. Queerty has more.

The Hillary and Obama Dance

Early Show's Smith Bizarrely Hints At Obama Assassination

Early Show's Smith Bizarrely Hints At Obama Assassination

Senator Ted Kennedy, having endorsed Barack Obama for President, has begun his barnstorming on behalf of the candidate in earnest. This morning found Kennedy on CBS' The Early Show, where anchor Harry Smith, apparently lacking the wit or the wherewithal to pursue a more substantive line of questioning, took the opportunity to do a little whistling past the Kennedy family graveyard:

SMITH: When you see that enthusiasm though, and when you see the generational change that seems to be taking place before our eyes, does it make you at all fearful?

Naturally, Kennedy really didn't catch on to what Smith was driving at, and responded, "I think that what people are basically saying is that they want a new day and a new generation."

Lacking a more heavy-handed way of getting his point across, like, say, whipping out the Zapruder film or something, Smith delicately waded back into the matter of political assasination:

SMITH: I just...ahhh--I think what I was trying to say is, sometimes agents of change end up being targets, as you well know, and that was why I was asking if you were at all fearful of that.

Kennedy elected not to speculate on the matter, for once demonstrating that the repetition of campaign talking points can help to paper over a host of media sins.



Obama previously addressed the matter of personal security in an interview with Brian Williams in early January, saying, "I think that every presidential candidate, certainly every president these days-- is a potential target. And that comes with the job. And you take the precautions that are necessary and then you go about your business."