The McCain Campaign’s Not So Straight Talk

Since Mikhail has been on a Sarah Palin fact finding mission over the holiday weekend, I thought I’d do some fact finding of my own and bring back the whole McCain campaign into the conversation. Plus, on an unrelated note it also appers that hack CT senator/panderer/lover of Hagee Joe Leiberman will be parading around at the RNC.  Overall, not a very good product the GOP has put out there it seems to me, and really, that’s forgetting about the packaging.  Anyway, here’s some McCain related idiocy from J Street:

John McCain’s campaign and the right-wing smear machine has set their sights on former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Obama adviser Daniel Kurtzer. His sin? Encouraging Syria to accelerate peace negotiations with Israel.   Apparently, to the McCain campaign, visiting Damascus and talking about peace with Syrians is just shy of treason.  Said McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb cynically: “If one of Senator Obama’s advisers has been to Damascus, we just wonder how many have been to Tehran.” 

Wow.  Trying to confuse the public, good strategy.  A bit of a low blow, no?  Why not remind everyone of Barack’s middle name? The article continues:

Since when is talking to people with whom we have conflicts a political crime?  Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, an Orthodox Jew, is a strong supporter of Israel and a seasoned American diplomat. He believes that achieving peace between Israel and Syria is in the best interests of both the United States and Israel.  In attacking Kurtzer, the McCain campaign is not only smearing the good name and reputation of one of America’s leading Middle East diplomats and experts, it is opposing stated Israeli government policy.

Is this John McCain’s plan for Israel and the Middle East? Oppose Israel’s efforts to end its conflicts with its neighbors diplomatically and endorse personal attacks on leading American diplomats?

Peace with Syria is in the best interests of Israel, the United States, and all the residents of the Middle East. Pulling Syria away from Iran’s influence should be a key objective of U.S. foreign policy. Successful engagement with Syria would further pressure Iran to negotiate over its support for terror and its nuclear program. Refusing to negotiate with Syria is counterproductive – increasing Iranian influence in the region and placing U.S. interests and Israel in greater danger. In the past, John McCain valued his reputation for integrity and rejected baseless, vicious attack politics. So far this campaign season, the straight talk express seems to have been run off the road.