Political fraud: a fake Obama interview

From French news blog Rue89's English edition, Street89, came this story about an interview with Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) published in Politique International. An excerpt, on the Iraq war:

"It is a defeat for the United States, indeed. And we will pay the consequences for this defeat for a very a long time.There is no longer any way to turn this defeat into victory. It is too late."

But did Obama really said that? As it turns out, no: the interview was conducted by Alexis Debat, a political scientist with the (conservative) Nixon Center. Do read the full story to find out this person's .. colourful .. past, it is rather incredulous.

One question that must be asked: is this simply a personal act of fraud, or is it part of some grander Republican smear campaign against one of the two Democratic front-runners? It is quite well-known that some Republicans are hoping Hillary would seal the nomination, banking on her high unfavourable ratings in the past, and regardless, it would be a good thing for them to paint Democrats as unpatriotic defeatists anyway.

The Nixon Center should fire this person, at the very least. They are hounding a senator of their own (Larry Craig) for what is, arguably, a morally lesser crime (paying people for oral sex in public places. Unfortunately, Craig is homosexual, and that is no-no for Republican "traditional value" voters). But sadly, the Republican climate nowadays is that political crimes committed in the name of conservatism is OK. Witness Karl Rove's career.

PS I linked to the story through reddit.com; please vote the story up if you like it so more people will see it.

Edit: Leon pointed out that Craig was not even caught verbally propositioning the undercover cop, let alone offering money. He was just making foot-tapping movements that apparently is understood to mean a proposition.