From the ArcaMax Publishing, Politics Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/politics/s-348822-421439
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The campaign of Republican presidential contender
John McCain said Friday that a 2006 statement McCain made about
dialogue with Hamas had been mischaracterized.
Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the presumptive nominee's campaign,
said accusations from James Rubin, a former U.S. State Department
official under U.S. President Bill Clinton, that McCain, R-Ariz., had
supported unconditional dialogue with the Palestinian extremist group
in 2006 were misleading, CNN reported Friday.
"There should be no confusion, John McCain has always believed that
serious engagement would require mandatory conditions and Hamas must
change itself fundamentally -- renounce violence, abandon its goal of
eradicating Israel and accept a two-state solution," Bounds said.
The spokesman produced a statement McCain made in 2006 that urged
Hamas to renounce violence. However, he didn't say taking such a step
would be a precondition for dialogue with the United States.
Rubin said McCain performed "the ultimate flip-flop in American
politics" when he criticized Democratic presidential contender Sen.
Barack Obama, D-Ill., for his stated willingness to meet with leaders
of hostile countries, including Iran, after supporting dialogue with
Hamas.