If We Know You Are Terrorists

Just one small (okay, it's not all that small) question for the W, Rove and Co, if I may: If we know Hamas is a terrorist organization, why can't you come up with a better solution to their winning elections in the Palestinian Territories than simply saying "we don't deal with Hamas because Hamas is a terrorist organization," given that we are sponsoring one massive "war on terrorism?" Have a gander and more insipid tripe delivered by whitehouse spokes model Scotty McMessage McClellan:

Q So then you're saying "if" Hamas is the government, well, there doesn't seem to be any doubt that it will be based on the election results and on what's happening over there today. So what you're really saying, it seems to me, is that unless Hamas renounces the charter provision that calls for the destruction of Israel, the U.S. won't deal with it.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the President made our view very clear yesterday. We don't deal with Hamas because Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Q Follow-up question, how do you know that it is simply a reaction to local conditions, corruption, and local problems that caused the election of Hamas?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that you can look at what was taking place. And the President referred to -- the President referred to the "old guard" that was there.

Q Right. But why --

MR. McCLELLAN: But we believe -- we believe very strongly that people around the world, and societies around the world want to, one, live in freedom; and, two, that they want peace. And I think that's very clear from what the Palestinian people have said over the years. They want peace.

Q Where do they say this? I don't --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think you can go and talk to people in that region, and you will hear them say that, yes, they want peace. The people in that society --

Q You keep laying it all off on the problems that they had with corruption and leadership.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, elections are about the government and it's about a competition of ideas, as the President talked about yesterday. I don't think you can ignore those facts.

Q Have there been any contacts with Hamas, other than your public statements here, and the President's, in terms of trying to reach them or see what can happen?

MR. McCLELLAN: We don't deal with Hamas, as I stated.

Go ahead.

Does anyone in the blogisphere know if there is oil buried under the Palestinian Territories?