Brendan Calling

The Stupidest People in Philadelphia

Hamas and Obama
Tony Auth was way off the mark in suggesting that John McCain was slinging mud for noting that Barack Obama is the favored candidate of Hamas (Inquirer, May 14).

In April, Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef said: “We don’t mind – actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will [win] the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, [a] great man with great principle, and he has the vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community, but not with domination and arrogance.” Obama strategist David Axelrod called the Kennedy comparison “flattering.”

How is pointing out an accurate, direct quote slinging mud? There are clear and demonstrable differences between McCain and Obama on how to deal with difficult foreign policy issues. Shining a light on those differences is not slinging mud. It is affording the voting public an opportunity to make an informed decision.

Steven L. Friedman
Myles H. Tanenbaum

Co-chairmen
Greater Philadelphia Chapter
of the Republican Jewish Coalition
Scott M. Feigelstein

Director
Republican Jewish Coalition
of Pennsylvania and South Jersey

The letter cited above was published in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, owned by noted Republican activist Brian Tierney

It’s always sad and amusing when people who think they are very smart write stupid things. As the Washington Post reported today,

McCain, meanwhile, is guilty of hypocrisy. I am a supporter of Hillary Clinton and believe that she was right to say, about McCain’s statement on Hamas, “I don’t think that anybody should take that seriously.” Unfortunately, the Republicans know that some people will. That’s why they say such things.

But given his own position on Hamas, McCain is the last politician who should be attacking Obama. Two years ago, just after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections, I interviewed McCain for the British network Sky News’s “World News Tonight” program. Here is the crucial part of our exchange:

I asked: “Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?”

McCain answered: “They’re the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it’s a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that.”

So I called up the Republican Jewish Coalition, and told them they might want to write another letter, explaining McCain’s quotes. The man on the other end of the phone said, “Well thank you for reading left-wing blogs,” and hung up the phone one me.

That was kind of rude, so I called back. “I don’t know why you hung up on me sir,” I began as he started trying to talk over me. “Sir– sir– SIR I AM A REPUBLICAN!” I finally bellowed. “I’m not reading “left-wing blogs”. I got this from the Washington Post and the Inquirer, hardly left-wing sources.”

“Well fine, fine,” he stammered, “but I have to go to a very important uh um meeting to get to, a very important meeting. Can you call back later?”

“Oh I’d be happy to!” I said, “only too happy to call back.”

I’ll keep y’all posted.

Comments are closed.