JERUSALEM – Sen. Barack Obama last week claimed Sen. John McCain was trying to "smear" him by repeatedly stating the Hamas terrorist organization supports the Illinois senator for president.
Multiple industrious blogs, most openly Obama supporters, attempted to trace the source of the purported smear and somehow arrived at yours truly.
Let's get something straight. There is no Hamas "smear." McCain wasn't offering his opinion that perhaps Hamas supports Obama.
The terror group's senior political adviser stated during a broadcast interview that Hamas "hopes" Obama wins the presidency. The Hamas figure also compared Obama to John F. Kennedy.
"I hope Mr. Obama and the Democrats will change the political discourse," Ahmed Yousuf, chief Hamas political adviser in the Gaza Strip, said in an interview with myself and radio host John Batchelor broadcast on WABC in New York.
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"I do believe [Obama] is like John Kennedy, a great man with a great principal. And he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community, but not with humiliation and arrogance," said Yousuf.
Yousuf told us that Obama has "a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with humiliation and arrogance."
Asked about Obama's repeated condemnations of Hamas, calling the Islamist group a terror organization, Yousuf replied, "I understand American politics, and this is the season for elections, and everybody tries to sound like he's a friend of the Israelis ... so whatever [the] Israelis didn't like they will take from all those candidates."
This is hardly a smear. A well-known Hamas official expressed his opinion of a presidential candidate during a live radio interview.
Did anyone – including Obama – claiming a "smear" was perpetuated actually listen to the full, 10-minute interview?
Yousuf was not coaxed into endorsing Obama. He wasn't even asked which presidential candidate Hamas supports.
Batchelor and I simply inquired if Yousuf was surprised that Obama had criticized Jimmy Carter's recent meeting with the Hamas terrorist organization. We also asked whether Hamas was willing to speak with U.S. presidential candidates, including Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Yousuf then volunteered his endorsement of Obama, immediately stating "actually we like Mr. Obama."
Without any prompting, Yousuf went on and on, gushing about the good senator.
Yousuf, of course, wasn't Obama's first Hamas-linked controversy.
Obama recently came under fire after it was reported his Trinity United Church of Christ newsletter reprinted an opinion piece by a top Hamas official that defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group's official charter – which calls for the murder of Jews – to America's Declaration of Independence.
And this past Friday, Robert Malley, described as an ancillary adviser to Obama, quit after it was reported he held talks with Hamas. Malley, an employee of the International Crisis Group, has penned numerous opinion articles, many of them co-written with a former adviser to the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, petitioning for dialogue with Hamas and blasting Israel for numerous policies he says harm the Palestinian cause.
Meanwhile, a few blogs attempting to smear the Hamas-Obama "smear" are pointing out that I've previously conducted interviews with other terrorists who have said positive things in the past about other Democrats, including Clinton and House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
One blog asked "Anyone notice a pattern here?" As if I somehow have power over what well-armed, outspoken, anti-Semitic terrorist leaders have to say.
There is indeed a pattern here, but not one these obviously liberal bloggers would dare recognize – terrorists favor having Democrats in power over Republicans.
As I've detailed in my recently released book, "Schmoozing with Terrorists," jihadists believe liberals' general Mideast policies of withdrawal from Iraq, dialogue with Iran and Syria and ceasefires and negotiations with terror-sponsors will bring them victory. They will support any party that advocates policies they think will advance their interests.
Some ask why I am the only one reporting these things. That's more a question for the rest of the news media that seem to be asleep at the wheel. Perhaps I'm the only reporter who thinks it is important to understand what our enemies think, how they operate and just who they want to see in the White House.
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