The campaign attacks have suddenly gotten crazier than ever with the McCain campaign saying that Obama is tacitly pro-genocide. While in the Holocaust Memorial in Israel, Senator Obama lay a wreath to honor the dead and wrote a tribute honoring the museum and the victims of the holocaust in the guest book:
“Let our children come here, and know this history, so they can add their voices to proclaim ‘Never Again.” And may we remember those who perished, not only as victims but also as individuals who hoped and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit.”
The McCain campaign quickly jumped to shamelessly accuse Obama of being in favor of genocide.Their means were to include two Obama quotes including the above from the guest book and the one below:
“Well, look, if that’s the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now – where millions have been punished by ethnic strife – which we haven’t done.”
McCain aide Michael Goldfarb was asked to clarify if they were really making such an unbelivable accusation. Goldfarb said:
“Today he says ‘never again.’ A year ago stopping genocide wasn’t good enough reason to keep U.S. forces in Iraq. Doesn’t that strike you as inconsistent?”
Of course, there’s no factual basis for this as Senator Obama favors leaving some residual troops to ensure that nothing like genocide would happen. It also completely distorts the point that Obama was making. He wasn’t saying that genocide was acceptable. He was pointing out that genocide isn’t limited to Iraq and yet no one is advocating the invasion of Darfur.
