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JERSEY CITY, NJ – Sen. John McCain struck back at his likely Democratic rival Friday, arguing that a senior Hamas adviser’s endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama is a “legitimate point of discussion,” after Obama called the issue a “smear.”

“It’s very obvious to everyone that Senator Obama shares nothing of the values or the goals of Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, I think that that’s obvious and I’ve certainly never implied anything else,” McCain told reporters a press conference in the Garden State Friday. “But it’s also a fact that a spokesperson from Hamas said that he approves of Senator Obama’s candidacy. I think that’s of interest to the American people and that is something that needs to be discussed–why his policies should meet the approval of a spokesperson for Hamas. I believe that’s a legitimate point of discussion.”

McCain was responding to comments made by Sen. Obama on CNN yesterday where the Illinois Senator accused the GOPer of smearing him by using the Hamas endorsement and then took a jab at his age.

“For him to toss out comments like that, I think, is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don’t need name-calling in this debate,” Obama told CNN Thursday.

While McCain said Friday that he ignored the comments, the campaign’s senior adviser Mark Salter released a memo Thursday that hammered Obama for bringing up McCain’s age and “trying desperately to delegitamize the discussion of issues that raise legitimate questions about his judgment and preparedness to be President of the United States.” (FULL MEMO AFTER JUMP)

For his part, McCain said Friday that he agrees that age is a legitimate topic for the campaign but quickly pivoted to the Jeremiah Wright issue, adding that Obama’s pastor is just as legitimate an issue.

“Every issue that the American people want to be an issue and it’s part of their discussions, it’s fine with me, it’s fine with me. Just as the Reverend Wright’s remarks, I don’t believe that senator Obama shares his views in any way but he has said that It is a legitimate topic of discussion. If that’s what the American people want to discuss, that’s fine,” McCain said. “I’ll continue to try to introduce them to my 96-year-old mother and display the same vigor and same energy that I have been able to display throughout this campaign which allowed me to win the nomination of my party. Any discussion, in my view, of any issue that the American people think is legitimate is up to them.”

For good measure, CT Sen. Joe Lieberman, who accompanied McCain to the press conference said that Americans can be assured that the presumptive GOP nominee’s “bearings” are in place.

“I just want to report that this morning I personally checked John McCain’s bearings. He has not lost any of them. They are really in great shape,” Lieberman said.

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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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