You all realize McCain just got a free pass addressing AIPAC and bashing Obama?

[NotThisTime]

I'm just saying.... nobody's talking about the actual opponent here, while this Republican is bashing our Democratic contender....

FREE RIDE & nobody gives a damn

[Thrill]

1. He's been getting a free ride since Jan.

[TexasObserver]

2. But no one is listening to McCain, not even the audience at AIPAC.

I just watched it. He get tepid, formal applause. He is a terrible speaker, just awful. His words didn't sound good when Bush was saying them, and now they sound even more empty. How many different ways can one say "Iraq was a good idea and we're winning, really we are winning, the surge is working"?

When people do start paying attention to what he says, his poll numbers will drop. Right now, he's getting a pass because no one is really thinking about what the old coot is saying.

[librechik]

3. they don't care that we care--Corp MSM are writing this narrative the way they want to see it

and fuck democracy.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Not only a media free ride for neocon John McCain, but an active defense of his "100 yrs. in Iraq."

John McCain's foreign policy advisor is none other than the neocon Randy Scheunemann--Committee to Liberate Iraq and noted PNACer. McCain has obviously thrown in his lot with the neocons, including the independent Democrat and Likudnik Joe Lieberman. (If Time's Joe Klein calls Lieberman a Likudnik, he's a Likudnik.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3079522

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century

[AndyTiedye]

5. McCain Will Get a Free Ride All the Way to the General Election and Beyond

This has little or nothing to do with the primary race, and everything to do with

[flpoljunkie]

6. Politico's Ben Smith notes today the "focus on Israel and Jewish politics has been extraordinary"

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Debating_Iran.html

Debating Iran

My first job in journalism was covering Jewish politics for the Forward, and I sometimes feel in this presidential race that I'm back there: The focus on Israel and Jewish politics has been extraordinary.

And, with perfect timing, the three candidates are expected to speak at AIPAC's policy conference this week, with McCain speaking today and the Democrats speaking Wednesday.

McCain attacked Obama for, he said, giving up on Iraq, and also attacked a missed vote Obama used to draw a contrast with Clinton during the primary when he didn't support a resolution in favor of declaring the Revolutionary Guard -- an arm of the Iranian government -- a terrorist group.

McCain:

We must apply the full force of law to prevent business dealings with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. I was pleased to join Senators Lieberman and Kyl in backing an amendment calling for the designation of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing American troops in Iraq. Over three quarters of the Senate supported this obvious step, but not Senator Obama. He opposed this resolution because its support for countering Iranian influence in Iraq was, he said, a "wrong message not only to the world, but also to the region." But here, too, he is mistaken. Holding Iran's influence in check, and holding a terrorist organization accountable, sends exactly the right message -- to Iran, to the region and to the world.

Obama aide Hari Sevugan responded by saying "the United States and Israel cannot afford" McCain's stance:

John McCain stubbornly insists on continuing a dangerous and failed foreign policy that has clearly made the United States and Israel less secure. Here are the results of the policies that John McCain has supported, and would continue. During the Bush Administration, Iran has dramatically expanded its nuclear program, going from zero centrifuges to more than 3000 centrifuges. During the Bush Administration, Iran has expanded its influence throughout a vitally important region, plying Hamas and Hezbollah with money and arms. During the Bush Administration, Hamas took over Gaza. Most importantly, the war in Iraq that John McCain supported and promises to continue indefinitely has done more to dramatically strengthen and embolden Iran than anything in a generation....

Instead of recognizing reality, John McCain continues to run on a platform of doubling down on George Bush's failed policies, while carrying on his divisive brand of politics. The United States and Israel cannot afford four more years of an unwillingness to change course.

Sevugan also criticized McCain for not signing on to a bill pushing divestment from Iran, which Obama supports.

By Ben Smith 10:17 AM