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Little Rock, AK — Despite criticism from his Democratic rival, Sen. McCain defended his campaign’s use of Obama’s endorsement by the Hamas terrorist group for political purposes and attacked him for being “very lacking in experience on national security issues.”

“It is just a fact that apparently the North American spokesperson is endorsing Senator Obama. People can make their own judgment from that,” McCain said at a media availability today, referring to comments made by Ahmed Yousef, a top Hamas adviser

Yousef told WABC Radio on April 13 that, “we like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the election. I do believe he is like John Kennedy, a great man with a great principle.”

McCain was first asked about the endorsement during a conference call with bloggers today where he said,
“I think it is very clear who Hamas wants to be the next President of the United States…if Senator Obama is favored by Hamas, I think people can make judgments accordingly.”

The McCain campaign has previously used the endorsement as part of a fundraising appeal.

Obama has condemned Hamas and never solicited the “endorsement,” and an Obama spokesman today accused McCain for use of “the politics of association and…claims he knows not to be true to advance his campaign.”

“This type of politics of division and distraction, not only lead to a campaign not worthy of the American people, but also has failed to help our families for too long,” added Obama spokesman, Hari Sevugan.

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