Florida GOP Mailer: Obama "No Friend Of Israel"

The Republican Party of Florida is sending out a new mailer that accuses Barack Obama of being "dangerously unprepared" and "no friend of Israel."

The direct mail piece, which was passed on to the Huffington Post by a reader, pairs two noxious quotes from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad along with some (very brief) quotes from Obama on Hamas, Hezbollah and his willingness to hold talks with the leaders of rogue nations. (The mailer's graphic layout also seems to place Obama's head as literally springing from the region of the troubled Middle East.) In a section slugged "The World On Obama," the mailer quotes four different op-eds from conservative outlets that are critical of Obama -- including the Wall Street Journal, a FoxNews.com blog, The Jerusalem Post and the New York Post.

But one of the editorials, in particular, is selectively quoted to the point of distortion in the mailer -- specifically the line that Obama believes Hamas and Hezbollah have "legitimate claims." Those two words come from a David Brooks New York Times op-ed from May 2008. With respect to the violent tactics employed by Hezbollah and Hamas, Obama told Brooks that "they're going down a blind alley with violence that weakens their legitimate claims." Only the last two words of that line are quoted in the Florida GOP's mailer. Elsewhere in the same piece, Brooks wrote: "Right off the bat he [Obama] reaffirmed that Hezbollah is 'not a legitimate political party.'"

Of course, one doesn't have to perform a close-read of a David Brooks column in order to discover Obama's position on Israel and its security. The Democratic nominee has repeatedly made clear that his support for Israel is "nonnegotiable," winning raves from pro-Israeli attendees of this year's AIPAC conference.

Comments

[STILJON]

Part 2
Senator McCain divides the country at a time of war by stating that without a surge our troops would have come home in defeat. Any true leader understands that every soldier wins the moment they put on the uniform. Whenever we withdraw, we will still have a capable force in Iraq to go after Al-Qaeda and continue to defeat them. Whenever we withdraw, if sectarian violence increases we cannot militarily get in the middle of a civil war. We need a commander- in- chief that will use our most valuable resources effectively. Senator Obama has been calling for a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq that now matches the thoughts of military experts and Iraqi leaders. Senator McCain still won’t offer a timeline for withdrawal. The sooner we responsibly withdraw from Iraq the sooner we can relieve the strain on our military and begin to strengthen our state of military readiness for any future threat. For our soldiers, for economic strength and for our security we must stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq and redeploy our troops. Senator McCain still insists Iraq is the central front on terrorism. Since 2007 Senator Obama has insisted we need to focus more on Afghanistan. The latest assessment from the NIE due out soon,clearly demonstrates that Afghanistan is facing a serious “downward spiral” making it the central front in the war on terror. Senator Obama’s strength of character, comprehensive intelligence and convincing temperament is exactly what a CIC needs.

[CJsway]

Unbelievable malicious pure sleaze campaigning by the McShames/R­epublihool­igans. Just awful, divisive, hateful, lying, crap they spew out of fear and loathing of and for truth and the desire to incite hatred out of their desperate need to stay in control. and destroy America for their own personal Wall St. gains. And, because of them, the hatred and evil they have created will continue even after this election to the detriment of us all.

[Starman033]

I am not sure if anyone else visits the dark depths of Fox News' website. But I just spent a half hour reading some of the comments on some of the articles.

Readers there are blatantly and unashamedly calling for a second US civil war if Barack Obama get elected.

These people honestly feel that the country should go into a civil war rather than transition to a new democratically elected government.

We really need to fix the American education system, there are way too many people who have no clue how to make an educated decision when it comes to their own government.

[tlc100]

That is unbelievable about calling for a civil war. I pity those people and how brain-washed they are. I have been praying for our country and the Obama campaign. Somehow...our country needs to come together. I believe prayer changes things! There are so many things I'd like to say to folks who are controlled by fear...like Obama being so unprepared for international crisis. What if McCain fell ill and Palin suddenly had to be president? Talk about unprepared­......Also­, the Ayers guy....if he's on committees in Chicago etc.....doesn't that prove that people can change over the years and he's no longer trying to blow up government buildings!! I hope some of these people believing these things can someday change as well.....Hang in there everyone.....Keep the faith!

[starznstripez]

I snoop over there as well, and am always disheartened by what I see as far as their peanut gallery is concerned. I don't understand how people can be so misinformed and it's as though they have no clue as to how to identify viable sources of information. It's really unbelievable. If you present them another point of view, you're suddenly the elite-libe­ral-biased media striking again.

[SailFree]

Sometimes Obama photographs darker--and sometimes his voice sounds deeper. God must be fudging things off and on...

[SailFree]

We must destroy that flyer. Spreading the truth is not to be allowed!

[Chukosh]

Did you notice that in addition to the tripe they wrote, they darkened Obama's skin tone?

If I ever had any respect for John McCain, it's gone now. If he were an honorable man, he would ask these people to cease and desist.

[harriscrl3]

And PAlin and McCain are NUTCASES!!!!

Carol

[FatherKindly]

Yawn.

[peacenlover]

Booooooooo!