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Sen. Barack Obama has harshly criticized Sen. John McCain for making an issue of an endorsement by Hamas, but the Democratic candidate said in a new interview he understands why the terrorist group supports his presidential bid. "It's conceivable that there are those in the Arab world who say to themselves, 'This is a guy who spent some time in the Muslim world, has a middle name of Hussein and appears more worldly and has called for talks with people, and so he's not going to be engaging in the same sort of cowboy diplomacy as George Bush,'" Obama told...

The fact that receiving Hamas support does not appear to disturb Obama should worry us even more than the fact that terrorists see something in him that they really like. The 2008 Presidential campaign has already seen a number of outlandish, and patently false, attacks. The idea that Islamic terrorists are picking a side in selection of an American president might seem to be yet another for the list…if it didn’t have its basis in truth. A few weeks ago, Ahmed Yousef, a top political adviser for terrorist group Hamas, said in an interview on WABC radio in New York...

While maintaining an ironclad commitment to Israel's security, Barack Obama says he understood why a top Hamas adviser voiced support for his presidential bid. "It's conceivable that there are those in the Arab world who say to themselves, 'This is a guy who spent some time in the Muslim world, has a middle name of Hussein and appears more worldly and has called for talks with people, and so he's not going to be engaging in the same sort of cowboy diplomacy as George Bush,'" Obama said in an interview with The Atlantic. "That's a perfectly legitimate perception as long...

After first denying that Hamas supports him and attacking John McCain for bringing it up, Barack Obama now says he understands why Hamas supports him. While maintaining an ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, Barack Obama says he understood why a top Hamas adviser voiced support for his presidential bid. “It’s conceivable that there are those in the Arab world who say to themselves, ‘This is a guy who spent some time in the Muslim world, has a middle name of Hussein and appears more worldly and has called for talks with people, and so he’s not going to be engaging...

We are shocked, shocked, to find the media (again) derelict in its duties. Barack Obama has run his campaign with numerous advisors who the campaign would have everyone believe are just not that plugged in to the campaign. Additionally, Obama refuses to divulge who these people are. Inevitably, however, word gets out that Obama has, yet again, surrounded himself with an undesirable. This time the undesirable is Robert Malley. Coming on the heels of the Obama campaign saying it was “flattered” by terrorist group Hamas’s endorsement, the foreign press -- in this case the London Times -- pointed out Mr....

The Hamas leader Ahmed Yousef did Barack Obama no favor recently when he said: “We like Mr. Obama and we hope that he will win the election.” John McCain jumped on this statement, calling it a “legitimate point of discussion,” and tied it to Obama’s putative softness on Iran, whose ever-charming president last week called Israel a “stinking corpse” and predicted its “annihilation.” The Hamas episode won’t help Obama’s attempts to win over Jewish voters, particularly those in such places as –- to pull an example from the air –- Palm Beach County, Florida, whose Jewish residents tend to appreciate...

Rob Malley, a Middle East policy adviser to likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, resigned after news surfaced that he had been meeting with Hamas -- something Obama pledged he himself would never do. Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said Saturday Malley called the Obama campaign on Friday to sever ties with the candidate after learning the Times of London was publishing a story about his contacts with the terrorist group. He told NBC News that his job "is to meet with all sorts of savory and unsavory people and report on what they say. I've never denied whom...

May 10, 2008 -- Barack Obama has dumped one of his advisers for meeting with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, according to published reports. Robert Malley, who acted as an informal adviser to Obama on Mideast policy, told the Times of London that he was in regular contact with the militant group as part of his work for the International Crisis Group think tank.

Are we due for an "October surprise?" Ever since October 1972, when Henry Kissinger, then Richard Nixon's national security adviser, announced that "peace is at hand" in Vietnam, an October surprise – or the impending possibility of one – has been a perennial feature of American political life. Will a dramatic foreign-policy development tip the electoral balance this year? Several factors have converged to make this more probable than in any recent election. Consider the extraordinary way foreign powers have been lining up in the election. Thus far, Barack Obama has been winning this particular nondelegate count. "We like Mr....

In the clearest indication yet of how he intends to confront Sen. Barack Obama on foreign policy issues in the general election, Sen. John McCain on Friday again portrayed the Democratic contender as being the favorite of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, and implied that he would also be friendly with Iran, a Hamas ally. Speaking at a news conference in New Jersey, McCain said he believed that comments made by a Hamas leader approving Obama's candidacy were "a legitimate point of discussion," and he went on to accuse Obama of agreeing to negotiate with the president of Iran, who...

One of Barack Obama’s Middle East policy advisers disclosed yesterday that he had held meetings with the militant Palestinian group Hamas – prompting the likely Democratic nominee to sever all links with him. Robert Malley told The Times that he had been in regular contact with Hamas, which controls Gaza and is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation. Such talks, he stressed, were related to his work for a conflict resolution think-tank and had no connection with his position on Mr Obama’s Middle East advisory council. “I’ve never hidden the fact that in my job with...

Barack Obama’s campaign has severed ties with a Middle East policy adviser who acknowledged having held talks with Hamas, according to The Times newspaper in London. Adviser Robert Malley said he had been in contact with the Palestinian group, but only through his work for a “conflict resolution think tank,” and not on behalf of the Obama campaign, the newspaper reported.

Barack Obama says that John McCain tried to "smear" him and was "losing his bearings" for suggesting that Hamas preferred Obama for president. The Democratic presidential candidate told CNN that it's "offensive" and "disappointing" especially since McCain has said he's "not going to run that kind of politics." McCain has raised questions about a Hamas adviser saying in an interview: "We like Obama and hope that he will win the election." The United States has labeled the Palestinian organization a terrorist group. McCain said yesterday on "The Daily Show with John Stewart" that it shows how some enemies view America....

Barack Obama sacks adviser over talks with Hamas Barack Obama had criticised former President Jimmy Carter for holding direct talks with Hamas Tom Baldwin in Washington One of Barack Obama’s Middle East policy advisers disclosed today that he had held meetings with the militant Palestinian group Hamas - prompting the likely Democratic nominee to sever all links with him. Robert Malley told The Times he had regularly been in contact with Hamas, which controls Gaza but is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation. Such talks, he stressed, were related to his work for a conflict resolution...

Charles Johnson (Little Green Footballs) clarifies a point that some had made concerning an assertion he made about Michelle Obama's online relationship with terror fundraiser Hatem El-Hady. These some people had wanted to believe that Michelle Obama hadn't personally added el-Hady to her online "friends" list because these some people really don't want to see a troubling pattern emerging with Mr. & Mrs. Obama. These some people were wrong. A troubling pattern is emerging. By some of course he means me in my very public speculation that perhaps Michelle was to mybarackobama.com as "Tom" was to MySpace, but he just...

John McCain sought again yesterday to tie Barack Obama to the terrorist group Hamas, a move that Obama's campaign said violated McCain's pledge for a respectful race. In a conversation with conservative bloggers, McCain said, "I think it's very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States. I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas's worst nightmare. . . .

The Obama campaign quietly removed from its official website a page managed by a fundraiser tied to the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. The page for Hatem El-Hady – former chairman of an Islamic charity closed by the U.S. government for terrorist fundraising – listed Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, as one of three "friends" as recently as yesterday, according to blogger Charles Johnson. But by yesterday morning, days after Johnson's "Little Green Football's" site drew attention to the El-Hady page, Michelle Obama's name had been removed. Then, later in the day, the entire page disappeared.

McCain spoke with bloggers this morning on a number of issues ranging from William Ayers to Rev. Wright to Tony Rezko. Jennifer Rubin noted that Hamas had endorsed Senator Obama and asked McCain whether Obama might have given "an unhelpful signal" to the terrorist group. McCain's response: All I can tell you Jennifer is that I think it's very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States. So apparently has Danny Ortega and several others. I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas's worst nightmare....If senator Obama is favored by Hamas I...

McCain spoke with bloggers this morning on a number of issues ranging from William Ayers to Rev. Wright to Tony Rezko. Jennifer Rubin noted that Hamas had endorsed Senator Obama and asked McCain whether Obama might have given "an unhelpful signal" to the terrorist group. McCain's response: All I can tell you Jennifer is that I think it's very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States. So apparently has Danny Ortega and several others. I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas's worst nightmare....If senator Obama is favored by Hamas I...

In a head spinning effort to make McCain the bad guy of a story, CNN has taken the voiced support for Barack Obama by the terrorist organization Hamas and turned it into a finger pointing at Republican John McCain for being mean to Obama. Talk about spin, CNN has really done a doosie here. Taking the words of the terrorists in Hamas and placing them in McCain's mouth is simply unbelievable. But that's exactly what they've done. CNN's Political Ticker Blog showed us some gymnastics worthy of the Olympics -- or more correctly a contortionist -- to turn the words...