Please help me get something unfair to Biden fixed in the Washington Post Fact Checker column by politely emailing factchecker@washpost.com. Here's what it says as of 10:17 pm:
Biden claimed that Obama warned against the administration's decision to push for Hamas participating in Palestinian legislative elections in early 2005. Obama had only been a senator for a few days when the election took place, but if he made such statements they did not appear in news reports or transcripts that are contained in the Nexis or Factiva news databases.
If you look at the transcript, though, Biden didn't specifically refer to the '05 elections and was almost certainly referring to the elections in early 2006. Here's what Obama said in January '06, just prior to those elections:
At a meeting with Palestinian students Thursday, Obama said the US will never recognize winning Hamas candidates unless the group renounces its fundamental mission to eliminate Israel, and Obama told ABC7 he delivered that message to the Palestinian president.
So he was indeed warning against Hamas winning the elections, which sure enough they did. And what was the headline in the NYT shortly afterwards? "Rice Admits U.S. Underestimated Hamas Strength":
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged Sunday that the United States had failed to understand the depth of hostility among Palestinians toward their longtime leaders. The hostility led to an election victory by the militant group Hamas that has reduced to tatters crucial assumptions underlying American policies and hopes in the Middle East.
"I've asked why nobody saw it coming," Ms. Rice said, speaking of her own staff.
Biden was right. Let the Washington Post know (politely, please!): factchecker@washpost.com