Spain Gaffe Wrap
To sum up yesterday’s McCain gaffe relating to meetings with Spanish Prime Minister José Zapatero, I agree with Josh Marshall — when you listen to the entire interview and put it in the context of McCain’s previous comments on Spain, it’s clear that Randy Scheuenemann is wrong and McCain was not trying to articulate any kind of wingnut policy of refusing to meet with Zapatero. He was just mixed up, probably because the interviewer was speaking with an accent at a high speed and he just didn’t catch the name. In the scheme of things, not such a big deal.
But then instead of admitting to a minor mix-up, the McCain campaign decided that in order to preserve their man’s aura of omniscience they would . . . provoke a diplomatic incident with Spain.
34 Responses to “Spain Gaffe Wrap”
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September 19th, 2008 at 4:48 am
Okay, now that is funny. Height = 2750!!!
September 19th, 2008 at 4:51 am
1) The Reason Democrats lose elections is that they piss off the voters with snark about trival matters –like this –while ducking out of addressing the real issues.
2) Do any readers here think a more relevant topic might have been Senator Chris Dodd’s statement this morning that
the United States could be “days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system”.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/19/AR2008091900205.html
September 19th, 2008 at 5:07 am
he probably mixed up Zapatero, Spain’s prime minister with the rebel zapatistas in Mexico, and that’s why he relates it to Mexican president Calderon
September 19th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Didn’t you claim expertise in CSS and HTML the other day?
You forgot to properly specify the height of the DIV.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:19 am
it’s not a DIV, it’s the “embed” tag:
the dimensions are set thusly : width=”340″ height=”2750″
September 19th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Long video is looooooooooooooooooooooooooong.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Gracias, my fellow commenters, for assuring me that the 2 foot tall video box is not just my computer being weird.
I understand–really, I do–why the McCain group want to avoid any suggestion that McCain gets confused. But they couldn’t even go with “he had trouble understanding her and didn’t want to be rude by asking her to keep repeating herself;” no, they need to randomly piss on NATO allies? No wonder Obama is so much more popular abroad.
This deserves play. What’s going to happen when he accidentally says something that sounds like he might be declaring war on Iran–even if meant innocently, off to war with Iran we go rather than admit a mistake?
September 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Matt,
First, I am not the Thomas Frank of the Baffler. But I would like to say your referencing of Music is really right-on.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:35 am
The Reason Democrats lose elections is that they piss off the voters with snark about trival matters –like this
As opposed to lapel pins, arugula, Hollywood, fist bumps, and the example of what your minister used for his sermons.
Thanks for clarifying things.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Um, MAYBE McCain somehow didn’t catch Zapatero’s name OR the repeated references to Spain. But I think Matt and Josh are being a bit too generous here in deciding this is PROBABLY the case … I think it is at least equally likely McCain heard Spain and just got confused anyway,
But I guess we will never know for sure what was going on in McCain’s mind. In any event, I agree it is telling that to cover up for his confusion, whatever the exact nature of that confusion, McCain has decided it would be better to needlessly antagonize a NATO ally (and in direct contradiction to his prior statements on the same subject). And this is the guy claiming it is OBAMA who is putting his personal interests ahead of his country’s interests? Sheesh.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Is it only I who caught this part of the exchange:
Interviewer: … what about ‘You rope’……
McCain: What about me what what…
Fit for SNL.
September 19th, 2008 at 10:10 am
I think it’s a big deal. My great-grandparents came to the US from Spain, my grandparents kept close ties with the family back in Spain, and I’ve got real pride in my Spanish background. I know it’s not as culturally resonant as Italian or Polish or Mexican immigrants or whathaveyou, but it matters.
I thought media “conservatives” were all kind of funny and/or stupid until their reactions to the 2004 Madrid bombings consisted of insulting the Spanish generally. That’s when my heart hardened to even the suggestion of allegiance to contemporary conservative “principles.” Nobody’s quaking in their boots about losing the Spanish-Americans, but, seriously, up theirs.
September 19th, 2008 at 10:21 am
When McCain asks “My what?” it’s pretty clear that he misheard “Europe” as “your up”, which indeed makes no sense. Even I can hardly blame him for that — this was a phone interview with an interviewer with an accent, as I understand.
Let McCain never say that I never said anything nice about him.
September 19th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I can’t wait for all the fun, unexpected wars we will get into if these two get elected. Misheard a question about Spain? Want to sound tough on Russia? Sing a song about Iran? Let the bombings begin! Better to just go with it than admit you screwed up.
It will be exciting. You’ll never know who could end up on our enemies list next!
September 19th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Sing Me Spanish Techno?
I was so expecting Moxy Fruvous.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:10 am
McCain: Anyone can make a mistake — it takes a real man to wage a war for one.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:31 am
“But then instead of admitting to a minor mix-up, the McCain campaign decided that in order to preserve their man’s aura of omniscience they would . . . provoke a diplomatic incident with Spain.”
My guess: they know McCain is going senile and they are desperate to cover up any public sign of his condition.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:32 am
“In the scheme of things, not such a big deal.”
Enabler!
Running dog!
September 19th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Since McCain represents Arizona in the Senate, shouldn’t we expect that he’d heard a Spanish accent before? If you’re used to hearing Spanish speakers speaking English, the question isn’t particularly hard to understand.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
The Scheuenemann is not the issue here!
September 19th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Just in response to Gene O’Grady, as a European I should point out that the Hispanic accents McCain hears in Arizona don’t really resemble the Spanish accent very much.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
The Spanish accent when speaking English is quite different than a Mexican accent when speaking English is quite different from a Cuban accent when speaking English, etc. I’m on the phone often speaking to LatAm and Spain in Spanish and English and the accents vary wildly. Example, “rugby”: an Argentine will say “rahgbee” and a Mexican will say “roogbee.” I’m pretty sure there’s not a huge Spanish immigrant population in Arizona, at any rate. So I’d still let McCain slide on the interview confusion.
The campaign trying to fix things for their candidate is the amazing part of the story.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Its the answer to the “In Your up” “My what?” that makes it unambiguous that McCain did not catch the reference to Spain.
In the 24 hours gotcha cycle, its possible to sympathize with McCain not wanting to say, “President of which country, again?” The interview itself is very small non-story. Its the follow-up that McCain needs to be convinced that a NATO ally with forces in Afghanistan is not an enemy to Amurikanism that is the story.
Huh, that’s the conventional wisdom of The Village. You could knock me over with a feather … they’re getting this one right.
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