McCain Unsure If He’ll Meet With the Prime Minister of Spain
Huh. Over at TPM they seem to think there’s some possible ambiguity about what went down exactly, but according to Spain’s El Pais newspaper John McCain wouldn’t give a straight answer to a question about whether or not he’d be willing to meet with the Prime Minister of Spain. Basically, McCain was getting questions about Hugo Chavez, about Evo Morales, and about Raul Castro and then when the interviewer pivoted to Spain’s José Zapatero, McCain responded with some boilerplate about his approach to Latin America being that we need to stay close to our friends and stand strong against our enemies.
Either he doesn’t realize that Spain is a NATO ally located on the other side of the ocean or else (more plausibly) he doesn’t know the name of the Prime Minister of Spain. That’s not a hanging offense, I suppose, but certainly an oversight for the candidate of experience and national security credibility.
58 Responses to “McCain Unsure If He’ll Meet With the Prime Minister of Spain”
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September 18th, 2008 at 12:22 am
If this is to be believed, he was informed both of the name of the PM of Spain and that Spain was the relevant country multiple times and persisted in talking about Latin America.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:25 am
John McCain: “I know how to:
[win wars]
[fix the economy]
[deal with Spanish-speaking countries]
“Boilerplate gibberish” doesn’t quite describe the inanity of John McCain’s mind–it’s too generous.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:27 am
I heard the interview a few times, I am a native spanish speaker, and can assure you that the interviewer said “let’s talk about Spain” and then asked about Zapatero only to have an answer relating to Calderon of Mexico. After 3 more iterations in which he clearly said “Cooperation is the basis for our relationships with Latin America” she, baffled says “But we are talking about Europe, Spain?” she got the same rote enemies bad friends good answer. And his answer on Bolivia was even worse. Just clueless about what is going on there. As a person hearing this from Latin America my head would have exploded. Many times.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:27 am
I’m actually entirely sympathetic to candidates not knowing the names of foreign leaders off the top of their heads. Possibly because I would suck at that.
But if that Americablog account is correct, then this seems much more serious.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Reminds me of the SNL skit of the Bush-Gore debates with Will Ferrell just saying a bunch of African leader names.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:33 am
That’s not a hanging offense, I suppose
Who are you to suppose anything? This is for the courts to decide.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Obama was on point when he said that McCain had lost his bearings.
They need to send Palin out on these interviews – when she flubs this stuff everyone will simply smile and say don’t worry she’ll be learning from the master.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:38 am
I’m expecting the return of Reverend Wright very soon. Maybe even drug use.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:38 am
# msw Says:
September 18th, 2008 at 12:35 am
They need to send Palin out on these interviews – when she flubs this stuff everyone will simply smile and say don’t worry she’ll be learning from the master.
At his feet, no less.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Either he doesn’t realize that Spain is a NATO ally located on the other side of the ocean or else (more plausibly) he doesn’t know the name of the Prime Minister of Spain.
Neither. He knows Zapatero is the PM of Spain, and he knows Spain is a NATO member.
Unfortunately, he also knows that every single nation on Earth is an enemy of the US, with the notable exceptions of Israel and Georgia (and possibly the UK).
September 18th, 2008 at 12:40 am
# 55 Says:
September 18th, 2008 at 12:38 am
I’m expecting the return of Reverend Wright very soon. Maybe even drug use.
I have $10 riding on at least a rumor of a white girlfriend.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:41 am
The thing about lies, is that it was tied to an assertion that McCain is a liar – that McCain is sleazy and dishonorable. And this was pushed by the Obama campaign itself.
And starting with Obama wanted to teach comprehensive sex ed in kindergarten while Palin won’t stop saying she opposed the bridge to nowhere made sleazy liar easy.
McCain is incoherent/senile isn’t as easy a connection.
I’m still voting for Palin is wacko – which is an easy connection from rape kits.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Aleks,
What idiot took the opposite side of that bet? Because I have some more action to throw his or her way.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Dios mio, man.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:49 am
I suspect McCain thought the questioner was asking about the Zapatistas in southern Mexico. A reasonable mistake for any slightly doddering senior citizen to make, and I write this as someone pushing 60 who occasionally finds himself doing the same. When they ask him about Merkel no doubt he’ll make some salty comment about pubic rugs.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:55 am
This is serious, serious stuff.
He is asked the question three times, and the words “Spain”, “Prime-Minister Zapatero” and “Europe” come up in unequivocal ways. There’s nothing tricky there.
Spain is a NATO member and a world top ten economy.
But he can not come up with one sentence about them.
Moreover, he starts talking about Mexico??
He’s senile.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Isn’t there an English transcript? I can’t imagine McCain was actually interviewed in Spanish.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:05 am
I heard, however, McCain was more than happy to meet with Francisco Franco, only to be dismayed to learn Franco was still officially dead.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:09 am
*sigh* I lived in Spain during the 2000 elections. It was depressing then, but nowhere near as bad as it would be had Bush done this. But then, they had Aznar then.
Let’s all have a moment of pity for the poor Americans living/travelling in Spain. At least I have the blessing to live in Japan, where people think the campaign is still between Obama and Clinton. It’s always, “McCain who?”
September 18th, 2008 at 1:11 am
The real reason not to meet with Zapatero is that the Spanish are a leader in the alternative energy industry (wind, solar). If we learn their ways, there’ll be no more need to drill, baby, drill.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:19 am
# kidkostar Says:
September 18th, 2008 at 1:05 am
I heard, however, McCain was more than happy to meet with Francisco Franco, only to be dismayed to learn Franco was still officially dead.
Come on, give the devil his due. McCain fought on the Loyalist side in that war.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:30 am
That’s a good point. Even though the Spain thing will get the most attention, McCain’s robotic responses show that he has no idea what the hell is going on in Latin America. He obviously doesn’t have a clue how guys like Evo and Hugo are getting elected (hint: the Washington Consensus).
September 18th, 2008 at 1:53 am
It’s obvious, isn’t it? John McCain knows that no one, and I mean no one, ever expects . . . The Spanish Inquisition!
Either that or he is senile as an old bat, or dumb as his running mate who thinks there are countries called I-Rack and I-Ran.
Liked the Francisco Franco jokes, but isn’t their a debate about whether McCain flip-flopped between the falangists and the republicans in Spain? And wasn’t Casablanca the first movie in which he had a cameo?
September 18th, 2008 at 2:37 am
I wouldn’t take this as a sign of senility. That only makes sense if you assume that McCain would have seemed less ignorant and confused 20 years ago. What’s the basis for that assumption?
There really isn’t much evidence that McCain ever knew much about this sort of thing.
September 18th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Does anyone think either Palin or McCain reads a newspaper daily?
September 18th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Realistically? No. I don’t think Palin or McCain read a newspaper daily. I don’t think that Biden or Obama do either.
Reading a newspaper is an enjoyable leisurely activity if you have a bit of spare time. Maybe it’s something a senator can do between elections when congress isn’t too busy. A presidential candidate in mid-September of an election year, though? I doubt it.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:30 am
That radio station is in Miami, but its parent company owns El Pais, so it’s serving as a de facto foreign bureau for the Spanish press. (That’s also why there are two versions with different translations for their respective markets.)
(I’m sure that Whackobot will be around to explain how it’s all part of the impending takeover.)
September 18th, 2008 at 5:48 am
Bush famously couldn’t come up with the name of Pervez Musharraf (bet he can now). Didn’t do him any harm in his constituency. Why should this hurt McCain? Low information voters don’t know or care about Spain or Zapatero. This just validates them.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:19 am
Of course McCain knows where Spain is. Didn’t he crash a plane there?
September 18th, 2008 at 7:37 am
I can’t believe Matt doesnt see through this play for middle american swing state voters…
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38654
Restaurant Turns Out To Be Spanish, Not Mexican
September 18th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Here’s the original interview in English. The interviewer begins the segment by saying “Let’s talk about Spain.” After McCain witters on about Latin America for a while, she says, “What about you. We’re talking about the President of Spain,” and McCain responds, “What about me what?” The interviewer asks if he’d be willing to meet with him, and he says (approx.) “I am willing to meet with any leader who stands for the same principles we are, and I will stand against those who do not.”
It’s pretty clear that he doesn’t know whether the current government of Spain is on our side our not. (Or what he sees as our side; I’m also a little disturbed by his comments about Morales and Uribe, and even Chavez given the whole background of the 2002 coup, but that’s another story.)
September 18th, 2008 at 7:55 am
McCain should pal up and campaign with Jim Bunning. The Non-Sequitur Express. His statements keep getting funnier and funnier every day.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:15 am
here is the english audio. even worse in english.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:16 am
oops forgot link. note ‘in the hemisphere’.
http://www.cadenaser.com/internacional/audios/interview-to-senator-mccain-english/csrcsrpor/20080918csrcsrint_1/Aes/
September 18th, 2008 at 8:16 am
This gaffe will not make the Anglo media unless there is an Obama gaffe to balance it with. But it will resonate in the Latino media, and that will be fine.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Is it possible that the translator made a mistake in translating to John McCain? Or maybe he’s just old and losing it.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Is it possible that the translator made a mistake in translating to John McCain?
No, the interview was conducted in English.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:20 am
No, the interview was conducted in English.
“We can’t bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell them stories that don’t go anywhere. Like the time I took the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe so I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. Give me five bees for a quarter you’d say. Now where were we? Oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get were those big yellow ones…”
September 18th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Listening to the English audio, it sounds to me as though McCain knew what was going on and simply didn’t want to commit to meeting with Zapatero. Though Spain is an ally, the Bush adm. has apparently been giving them the cold shoulder. McCain’s references to Latin America sounded to me like an effort to change the subject, not like confusion.
It’s ambiguous — in one case he seems not quite to hear part of the follow-up question. But overall, I think the better line of attack here would be to link him to Bush as someone who needlessly disses our European allies.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I listened to the interview in English. McCain simply didn’t understand the question. Maybe the audio was bad. Maybe he had trouble understanding her accent.
I’m hoping for McCain gaffes as much as the next liberal, but this is making something out of nothing.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:44 am
McCain simply didn’t understand the question.
And that’s the sort of thing that in no way could lead to problems if he ever had to talk to a foreign leader.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I’m pretty sure he mixed up Zapatero with the Zapatistas, but maybe his bellicosity has extended to Western Europe as well. The funny thing is, I always thought that Ron Paul was the isolationist.
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