McCain on Hamas Posted by Michael Cohen

So there was something else pretty crazy that John McCain said last night on the Daily Show. When talking about the Middle East, he claimed that he would be "Hamas's worst nightmare."

Putting aside the pathetic, Bush-esque frat boy bravado, let's think about this for a second. Which President has done more to help Hamas in its entire twenty-year blood-stained history? Well that would be George W. Bush.  Back in January 2006, it was the Bush Administration that pushed for elections in Gaza against the wishes of both Fatah and the Israelis. Indeed, Hamas's route to political power was paved by Bush's messianic belief in freedom.

Now when we look at the candidates for President in 2008 who is the most like George Bush. That would be John McCain. So tell me again why John McCain would be Hamas's worst nightmare?

Comments

[peace]

Why does McCain want get the United State ever further on the Israeli side in their dispute with the Palestinians? Israel has enough military power already to deal with Hamas. Statements like that by McCain support the fundamentalists in the region and make it harder for the Americans to broker some sort of peace accord between the Israelis and Palestinians.

[scotus]

Er, no.

Hamas has been around a bit longer than that, with its origins during the Reagan administration. The initiative by the Israelis under the Begin administration (strongly supported by the hawks on the Reagan Middle-East team) to de-legitimize the PLO was centered around legitimizing NGOs like Hamas by funnelling aid to the Palestinians in the occupied territories through them. Vice President Bush probably played a major role in convincing the Saudis to supply the money. (And Saudia Arabia was probably the only player who really understood what they were doing.)

So, the ranking of presidents who have helped Hamas would have to go something like this:

1) Ronald Reagan
2) George H.W. Bush
3) George W. Bush
4) a distant last, probably having an actual negative impact on Hamas, Bill Clinton