These are now coming at a rate of once a month. Jonathan had an extended post on the topic at the end of August, but some in the media still seem to be under the impression that Mahmoud Abbas accepts Israel’s right to exist. On Monday the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler declared said acceptance to be nothing less than an absolute incontrovertible fact, worthy of mocking top-tier Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry as “stuck in a time warp” and “remarkably uninformed” for assuming otherwise.

So here is Abbas insisting three weeks ago the Palestinians will never give up on the right of return, which is the demand Israel open its borders so literally millions of the world’s most violently anti-Israel lunatics can overrun and destroy the Jewish State:

See also this more extensive debunking by Power Line of that same obnoxious Kessler article.

We’re now entering the part of the campaign season where disagreements and concerns about Obama’s approach to Israel – including his first-phone-call embrace of Abbas and his policy of putting “daylight” between the U.S. and Israel – get dismissed as “smears” and “myths.” The strategy is an exact replay of what the Democrats did in 2008, where groups like the NJDC shouted down concerns about Obama’s anti-Israel advisers, his anti-Israel associates, and his anti-Israel rhetoric.

The goal isn’t to answer arguments. The president’s defenders want to categorically dismiss his critics as disingenuous liars, the better to ensure low-information voters don’t try to evaluate the criticisms. Having succeeded last time with press releases like “Another Ad, Another Lie” and accusations of “hypocrisy and the blatant disregard for truth,” Obama’s ostensibly pro-Israel defenders have no incentive to try anything new. That’s kind of lucky for them, because any actual defense would require exploring his record on Israel, which would involve Reuters articles with phrases like “historic crisis” and “35-year low.”