"Obama, Edwards Accuse Clinton Of Flip - Flop on Iran"

NY Times (Reuters):

Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards on Friday accused front-runner Hillary Clinton of flip-flopping by saying she would negotiate with Iran.

Obama and Edwards have stepped up attacks on Clinton, who has a double-digit lead in the 2008 White House race. They seized on a comment the New York senator made in New Hampshire on Thursday when she said as president she would "engage in negotiations with Iran with no conditions."

"A couple of months ago, Sen. Clinton called me 'naive and irresponsible' for taking this position, and said that we could lose propaganda battles if we met with leaders we didn't like," Obama said in Des Moines.

"Just yesterday, though, she called for diplomacy with Iran without preconditions," he said. "So I'm not sure if any of us knows exactly where she stands on this."

After a debate in July, the Clinton campaign accused Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, of being naive for saying he would be willing to meet leaders of several hostile nations without preconditions during his first year in office.

Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson denied any change in policy.

He said when Clinton said talks with "no conditions" she was referring to meetings between the U.S. government and Iran, not personal meetings with the president.

"Sen. Clinton has repeatedly and consistently called for negotiations between the United States and Iran aimed at ensuring that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons," he said.

"Sen. Clinton did not say that the U.S. president should pre-commit to meetings with the leaders of Iran or other rogue states during the first year of her presidency. Rather, Sen. Clinton was clearly referring to diplomacy between nations as she has repeatedly and consistently done for months."

Edwards' communications director Chris Kofinis also accused Clinton of flip-flopping.

"It is very disappointing that Sen. Clinton seems determined to hedge her responses on the issues that matter most to the American people," he said. "The American people deserve a president who will tell them the truth and offer straight answers, not flip-flops and political double-speak."

Howie P.S.: Obama-loving Think On These Things has "John Edwards Flip-Flopped with Hillary on Diplomacy Too."