Gramm-pa McCain camp accuses "The Atlantic" writer of slander and libel

By GottaLaff

First, a very good point by Jeffrey Goldberg in a piece titled "Sarah Palin Endorses Hamas":

Couric asked, "What happens if the goal of democracy doesn't produce the desired outcome? In Gaza, the U.S. pushed hard for elections and Hamas won."

Palin's answer, in full, was this: "Yeah, well especially in that region, though, we have to protect those who do seek democracy and support those who seek protections for the people who live there. What we're seeing in the last couple of days here in New York is a President of Iran, Ahmadinejad, who would come on our soil and express such disdain for one of our closest allies and friends, Israel ... and we're hearing the evil that he speaks and if hearing him doesn't allow Americans to commit more solidly to protecting the friends and allies that we need, especially there in the Mideast, then nothing will."

The issue here is not that Palin didn't know the answer. There are many possible answers to this question, some of which are right and some of which are wrong. The issue here is that she didn't know the question. Because she was apparently ignorant of the subject, she endorsed Hamas' victory, and, in essence, called for the U.S. to "protect" Islamists who seek to use democratic elections to lever themselves into power. And, of course, Ahmadinejad came to power in a more-or-less democratic election. Palin's answer was truly remarkable. A person who could be President of the United States has shown herself to be completely ignorant of one of the most vexing and important foreign policy questions of the day. Freshman congressmen know how to answer this question.

See that last part, in red? That's one reason why those who accuse Obama of having "less experience" than IWRC* Palin are dead wrong.

Here is Gramm-pa McCain's response to the article:

Michael Goldfarb of the McCain campaign writes in to say that I libeled Sarah Palin in my previous post:

Governor Palin did no such thing, and your title is nothing short of slander. Having read your work for some time I doubt that you believe Hamas qualifies as "those who seek democracy." That you would put those words in Governor Palin's mouth is libel.

Umm, Michael, the title was a joke, designed to make the point that Sarah Palin knows so little about the Middle East that she accidentally "endorsed" Hamas. It's hard to tell, of course, because her answer made no sense. As to Goldfarb's second point, I actually believe that Hamas does "seek democracy," but for its own ends. Unlike al Qaeda, Hamas and other Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organizations do participate in the political process, in order to take control of their countries. Whether they would give up power after losing a free and fair election is another question.

Keep blaming the other guy, IWRC* Palin/Gramm-pa McCain, instead of examining the actual substance of the remarks. The more you do that, the more ridiculous, shallow, and unqualified you look.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"