ABC NEWS: Undermining McCain Campaign Attack, Republicans Back Obama‘s Version of Meeting With Iraqi Leaders. What’s interesting is that they offer a better refutation than the Obama campaign’s own rather non-denialish denial. This certainly underscores my initial reaction that such claims should be taken with a grain of salt, but it also suggests that the Obama message machine broke down — their response to Taheri led me to believe his report more. And who did I get this story from? Not the Obama folks, but dedicated Obama supporter Mark Kleiman. Oh, well — I guess they can rely on An Army of Kleimans!

And I guess the media spin, again, will be that McCain shouldn’t believe what he reads in the papers. Good advice for us all, these days . . . .

UPDATE: Related item from Taheri, who notes numerous Obama statements consistent with his piece. I think I’ll go with the Bush Administration officials on this, though.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Not so fast, says Tom Maguire.