The same old slime

Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?

They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy.

OK, who said that? Barack Obama? NO! John "Straight-Talk" McCain, in an interview with James Rubin of SkyNews two years ago. Rubin recounted this in WAPO today.

This comes after the President--in a speech to the parliament of an allied nation (Israel)--likened Obama to the appeasers of the 1930's in a reference so thinly veiled that Salome would have refused to wear it. And after McCain, just in case anyone was so obtuse as not to get Mr. Bush's message, compared Obama to Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who (along with Eduard Daladier, premier of France) abandoned the Czechs to Hitler.

The Republicans have been the party of utter shamelessness for as long as I can recall, but this double-team smear reaches a new level, especially so early in the campaign. It is a sign of how nasty things are likely to get this year, but it is also likely to rebound against the GOP among many millions of Americans who are tired of this kind of politics, especially given where it has got the nation today. Perhaps even more important to the outcome of the November election, McCain's hypocrisy will dent, if not deflate, his reputation as a straight-talker. As my pappy used to say, "When a man tells you how honest he is, keep your hand on your billfold."