To the chants of "Mac is back," US Sen. John McCain whizzed through Israel this week where he met with just about every possible Israeli leader he could find: Peres, Olmert, Livni, Barak, the mayor of Sderot...
The likely GOP presidential nominee said he came to support the peace process.
His GOP wingman, US Sen. Lindsey Graham, told reporters that the trip had made it ever-more clear to him that the U.S. needed to do more to promote Middle East moderates.
"From a national security point of view, from a moral point of view, I think America needs to help the voices of moderation in the Middle East now more than ever," Graham said.
Strangely, though, McCain, Graham and US Sen. Joe Lieberman didn't make any time to meet with America's Main Moderate Man in the West Bank: PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
OK, it's not really so strange if you accept that the taxpayer funded Congressional fact finding mission was more about the GOP presidential candidate burnishing his diplomatic credentials and sending a message, both to pro-Israeli evangelicals in his own party who can hardly stomach the thought of voting for McCain, and to Democrat-leaning American Jews who have slowly been gravitating towards the GOP in recent presidential elections.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat downplayed any suggestion of a slight and hailed McCain as a man who supports peace.
But, it's not clear why McCain didn't take an hour to do a grip-and-grin with Abbas, especially since the PA president is on shaky ground and there are growing concerns that this year won't end in an historic peace deal, but in a deadly new round of uncontrollable violence.
After making an inopportune gaffe about Iraq during a news conference in Jordan, McCain largely avoided any verbal missteps during his visit to Israel. (Although he did identify the deposed Hamas leaders in Gaza as the "Palestinian Authority" in Gaza...)
But Democrats are already using the gaffe about Iraq against McCain.
And the Straight Talk Senator's past moments of extreme candor have already been set to music in a satirical send-up of the wildly popular Obama music video. The McCain video (below) is already creeping towards two million views...
For the three or four of you who missed the original Obama video, here it is:
With Friends Like These
Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz
http://www.haaretz.com:80/hasen/spages/967055.html
Posted by: Edie | March 23, 2008 at 10:20 PM