Hamas chooses the Audacity of Hype, not that he wants you to know about it

Last month, Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef let it be know whom the terrorist group prefers in the November election (Carl Cameron via Jim Geraghty, emphasis added):

We don’t mind–actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance.

At first, the Obama campaign so thrilled with the JFK comparison that they were quite comfortable with the terrorist endorsement (NRO - The Corner, emphasis added):

When asked about the endorsement, Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, was flattered that Hamas compared his candidate to JFK: “We all agree that John Kennedy was a great president, and it’s flattering when anybody says that Barack Obama would follow in his footsteps.”

Then John McCain called Obama on it, and suddenly any reference to Hamas is “offensive” and “an example of him (McCain) losing his bearings” (CNN).

Well, unlike the Wright kerfuffle, the McCain folks put the Audacity of Hype in the crosshairs on this one (Corner, emphasis added):

First, let us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama’s attack today: He used the words ‘losing his bearings’ intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain’s age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning.

We have all become familiar with Senator Obama’s new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is.

. . .

Through their actions and words, Senator Obama and his supporters have made clear that ANY criticism on ANY issue — from his desire to raise taxes on millions of small investors to his radical plans to sit down face-to-face with Iranian President Ahmadinejad – constitute negative, personal attacks.

. . .

Indeed, on April 13th, senior Hamas political advisor Ahmed Yousef said, ‘We don’t mind – actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election . . .”

. . .

The McCain campaign has never suggested that Senator Obama supports Hamas’ agenda, but it is more than fair to raise this quote about Senator Obama because it speaks to the policy implications of his judgment.

In other words, Barry, when the terrorists want you to win, perhaps you’re doing or saying something very wrong.