Advisor to McCain’s Campaign: Syria Involved in Hariri’s Murder

The advisor to U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign has accused Syria of involvement in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination and said Hizbullah put itself on the terror list when it intimidated Beirutis last May.
Reports of U.N. investigators reveal Syria’s involvement in the “heinous crime” in 2005, Robert “Bud” McFarlane told al-Mustaqbal daily in remarks published Monday.

McFarlane, who was National Security Advisor to U.S. President Ronald Reagan, also said it was important for the international community to bring the culprits to justice.

He hoped that the next report on Hariri’s assassination would reveal new facts about the crime.

There was no explanation for the Hizbullah attacks on media outlets belonging to the Hariri family in May when the Shiite group’s fighters clashed with al-Mustaqbal movement gunmen, McFarlane said.

Will Virginia deliver Obama’s VP?

John McCain and Barack Obama will make their choices soon for running mates. On the Democratic side, have you heard the name Tim Kaine? Here’s a piece about who he is and why Obama would be smart to pick him.

Trends indicate a Democratic presidential candidate could win Virginia for the first time in 40 years, and perhaps thereby win the presidency itself. But why Virginia and why Tim Kaine for Vice President?

In what promises to be another very tight election like 2000 and 2004, the change from Republican to Democratic in just one or two states could propel Barack Obama into the White House. And that’s where Virginia’s 13 electoral votes and Governor Tim Kaine’s vice-presidential candidacy come in.

First, the South is the key that unlocks the White House door. Every winner of the Presidency from 1976 forward has carried a substantial portion of the South. For example, Ronald Reagan won the White House in 1980, because he won a significant portion of the South while running against a southerner, Jimmy Carter. In the razor-thin Democratic losses in 2000 and 2004, if Al Gore and John Kerry could have penetrated the South, they would have won. So if history is the best predictor of the future, Barack Obama needs to capture a foothold in the South.

Second, more than any other southern state, Virginia offers the greatest promise for Democratic success. Republicans have lost Virginia’s last two gubernatorial elections and the most recent senatorial election. In no other southern state has the Democratic Party done as well in recovering from the Republican Party’s domination.

Third, the latest Rasmussen Reports on the Virginia presidential election show McCain and Obama in a dead heat at 44 percent each. When the Rasmussen includes “leaners” in its poll, McCain leads Obama by a statistically insignificant margin, 48 percent to 47 percent.

Fourth, recognizing its potential for a victory in Virginia, the Obama campaign has shifted substantial resources into Virginia, including money and staff. Historically, what is the significance of this effort? No Democrat has won Virginia in a presidential race since 1964 when a southerner, Lyndon B. Johnson, carried the state. Since then no Democrat has made a serious investment of time, talent, and treasure in winning Virginia.

Fifth, Virginia’s demographics make it the most likely southern state for Obama to capture from the Republicans. The rapidly growing electorate in the Washington, DC suburbs of Northern Virginia, which is Virginia’s most Democratic-friendly region, helped to propel Mark Warner and Tim Kaine to victory in the two most recent gubernatorial contests and Jim Webb in the most recent senatorial election.

Northern Virginia had a 15 percent growth rate in its Washington, DC suburbs between 2000 and 2006. Fully one-third of all Virginians now live in these suburbs, but more than that Northern Virginia’s exurbs expanded by 60 percent since 2000. Voters moving to these areas lean Democratic.

Blacks constitute 20 percent of Virginia’s population. Because all polls show Barack Obama energizing the Black electorate, he will likely reap the dividend of a significant increase in Black voter registration and voter turnout. Typically Blacks cast 85 to 90 percent or more of their votes for Democratic candidates, but with Obama running for President that percentage could reach 95 percent or more, which would present Republicans with a formidable challenge in keeping Virginia in the win column after 40 years.

Sixth, as a popular Democratic Governor in a Republican state, Tim Kaine could not only help Barack Obama seal the deal in Virginia, but he also could help him elsewhere, especially among one of the Democratic Party’s most important constituencies, Roman Catholics. From Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal until now, Democrats have depended heavily on capturing the lion’s share of Roman Catholic voters. As a Roman Catholic in good standing, Governor Kaine holds positions on various social and moral issues that generally accord with Roman Catholic teaching.

As a Southern Governor, Tim Kaine would have the added advantage for Barack Obama, a Protestant, of balancing his ticket with a Roman Catholic running mate, who could also help Obama outside the South in such battleground states as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio, which have substantial Roman Catholic populations.

Could it be that Tim Kaine holds the key to a Barack Obama victory in November?

Dean Dunn is Dean of the School of Government at Regent University

Obama says McCain campaign cynical, not racist

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Saturday that Republican rival John McCain’s campaign has been cynical, not racist, in trying to raise fears about his candidacy.

Obama said McCain’s campaign team was “very good at negative campaigning” and was using his relative inexperience, atypical biography as well as his race to try to stir up doubts about him.

McCain’s campaign aired an ad this week charging Obama played “the race card” in claiming McCain was trying to scare voters about his appearance. Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and white Kansas mother, would be the first black U.S. president.

“In no way do I think that John McCain’s campaign is being racist, I think they’re being cynical,” the Illinois senator told reporters during a campaign swing through Florida. “I think they want to distract people from talking about real issues.”

McCain, an Arizona senator, also mocked Obama in two advertisements this week, one linking him to vapid Hollywood celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and another lampooning him as an overconfident and Messiah-like candidate known as “the One.”

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McCain Hits Obama Again

Republican Front-Runner Assails Illinois Senator; Wins Evangelical Endorsement

By JAKE TAPPER and BRET HOVELL

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 27, 2008 —

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., continued to attack Sen. Barack Obama,
D-Ill., today for suggesting during a Democratic debate that after
withdrawing combat troops from Iraq, Obama, as commander in chief,
would be willing to send U.S. troops back into Iraq “if al Qaeda is
forming a base” there.

“The fact is, al Qaeda is in Iraq,” McCain said. “Al Qaeda is
in Iraq today. If we left Iraq there’s no doubt that al Qaeda would
then gain control in Iraq and pose a threat to the United States of
America. Ask anyone who knows about the situation on the ground in
Iraq. I look forward to continuing this debate.”

The remarks constituted the third time in one day that McCain
had assailed the Democratic front-runner for his comment, in what
seemed a preview of the general election matchup.

McCain vs. Obama

McCain started the day in Tyler, Texas, assailing Obama for his
comments, then repeated the charge at a town hall meeting in San
Antonio at the offices of USAA Insurance.

“I guess that means that [Obama] would surrender and then go back,” McCain said.

Watch McCain’s comments today HERE.

During last night’s debate, Obama responded to a hypothetical
question by moderator Tim Russert about whether he would go back into
Iraq after withdrawing a sizable number of troops to quell insurrection
or civil war.

As part of his answer, Obama responded, “As commander in chief,
I will always reserve the right to make sure that we are looking out
for American interests. And if al Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then
we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our
interests abroad.”

Obama responded to McCain’s comments today at a rally in Columbus, Ohio.

“Well, first of all, I do know that al Qaeda is in Iraq. That’s
why I’ve said we should continue to strike al Qaeda targets,” he said.
“But I have some news for John McCain, and that is that there was no
such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain
decided to invade Iraq.

Obama Hits Back

“I’ve been paying attention, John McCain,” he said. “That’s the
news. So John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden
to the gates of hell, but so far all he’s done is follow George Bush
into a misguided war in Iraq that’s cost us thousands of lives and
billions of dollars.

“I intend to bring [it] to an end so that we can actually start
going after al Qaeda in Afghanistan and in the hills of Pakistan like
we should have been doing in the first place.That’s the news, John
McCain,” Obama said.

McCain also went after Obama for considering breaking his
pledge to enter into the public financing system should he be the
Democratic presidential nominee.

Obama’s campaign received a financial contribution from its one
millionth donor today, and his campaign has been floating the idea that
there is no need for him to enter the public financing system, because
his support is so widespread and from the grassroots.

“Sen. Obama signed a piece of paper and pledged to take public financing for his campaign if I did the same,” McCain said.

“He signed a piece of paper, he made a commitment,” he said. “I
made that commitment. I made that commitment to the American people. I
will keep it. I believe that Sen. Obama should keep his commitment
also, which means taking public financing. The rest of it is ground
noise.”

McCain made the remarks today after receiving the endorsement
of evangelical leader John Hagee, founder and senior pastor of the
19,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio.

McCain’s Evangelical Support

Hagee cited McCain’s support of Israel and his opposition to legal abortion as reasons why he was backing him.

The pastor is best known in some Washington circles as a founder
of Christians United for Israel and for his belief, as laid out in his
book “Jerusalem Countdown” that the end of days scenario as spelled out
in the Book of Revelation will occur after Russia, allied with the
Islamic world, attacks Israel.

“Russia is going to get in that position and they are
literally, with all that massive military force, going to attack
Israel,” Hagee told ABC News in 2006. “This is recorded in Ezekiel 38
and 39. God himself is literally going to destroy that army. Decimate
it.”

Hagee added that the confrontation would be followed by a
Chinese army of 200 million coming to the city of Armageddon, where
they will meet British and U.S. forces in the Battle of Armageddon.

“At that point, Jesus Christ returns to Earth and sets up his
eternal kingdom in the city of Jerusalem and there’s 1000 years of
peace,” Hagee said. “The Jewish people are going to see the
supernatural hand of God preserve them and deliver them while the
enemies of Israel are crushed. That’s the end-time story.”

Asked if he subscribed to this theology, McCain furrowed his brow.

“All I can tell you is I’m proud to have Pastor Hagee’s support,” he said.

Hagee added that his “support of Israel has absolutely nothing
to do with an end times prophetic scenario. Our support of Israel is
because we feel their cause is just. … I support Sen. McCain because
I know that he has pledged to be a strong defender of Israel.”

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