McCain: ¿Spain?
McCain has managed to strain relations with a European country without even being elected yet.
In an interview with Union Radio in Miami McCain answered a question to whether he would hold meetings with President Zapatero of Spain in such a way that it seems clear that:
- He lumps Spain together with Venezuela and Bolivia as non-friendly nations.
Or
- He has no idea of anything pertaining to Spain at all.
Neither option, as you can imagine, is causing much pleasure within Spain itself.
His answer to the question of whether he’d meet with Zapatero was this:
“I would be willing to meet with those leaders who are friends and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion,” McCain said, throwing in words of praise for the Mexican government.
Well, politicians are often vague and don’t always address your actual question the first time. So the reporter asked again, and then again, and then AGAIN. Every time McCain gave the “talk to our friends, stand up to our enemies” line, refusing to acknowledge that Spain is an EU and NATO member state and certainly an ally.
The debate is on in Spain on whether McCain is being intentionally cold to Spain or whether he simply has no idea what Spain is in relation to the United States. I tend to believe the latter, since I see no reason that McCain would feel ill towards Spain and he markedly did not refer to it in any specific fashion even given several chances.
I’m sure this makes the Spanish soldiers currently stationed in Afghanistan feel just peachy. Thanks John.
Update: Reading more on the story, it seems that McCain expressed (Spanish), just a few months ago, that he’d have no problem meeting with Zapatero. So it seems increasingly likely he simply forgot who the hell Zapatero was, or where Spain was in relation to the US, instead of intentionally snubbing Spain. Ironically enough, his campaign seems to think that being seen snubbing is better than being caught forgetting. Thanks again, John.
Listen to the interview. There is no doubt Mc Cain was confused about Spain and kept on speaking as if Zapatero was a Latin American leader. there is ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WItI9It_Swc This man’s senility is a danger to our nation
Didn’t Zapatero say he supports Obama? I suppose that didn’t cause any ‘cooling’ between Spain and the US?
Good article, I agree, both alternative explanations of McBush’s gaffe look bad. I think the one where he’s punishing a foreign leader for doing what the majority of his people wanted (in the 90% range) and what he campaigned for, namely removing their soldiers from an illegal war, looks the worst. It would mean that McBush will follow the same ‘with us or against us’ doctrine that has made the US so unpopular in the world today.
http://www.theendisalwaysnear.blogspot.com
The things are not so simple in real life
http://www.redstate.com/diaries/spaniardformccain/2008/sep/20/tha-spanish-prime-minister/
We should give the old timer the benefit of the doubt that he forgot. But if we believe the spin the right has put on this, where he meant what he said, in that case it takes on a much more frightening edge. If he did "forget", we could thus say he was human. However if he was purposely making Zapatero into an enemy, simply because they do not share neoconservative ideologies, the entire incident takes on a much more dangerous aspect. What we then have is a clear McBush moment (as one the the comments mentioned), where we have another man running for the world’s most powerful position who believes in the "with us or against us" world view.
http://troyshouse.blogspot.com
McCain is simply senile. It’s just not this incident: he has difficulties thinking and expressing himself maybe because he was never too bright or because he is just sick. If this guy gets elected maybe we should give the territory west of the Mississippi plus Florida back to Spain. If he is senile is bad… if he doesn’t know American history is worse. If he made a mistake is bad… but his entourage by trying to cover it up by made it worse by offending the Spanish nation, yes the same nation that discovered this continent, Mr McCain. This easily could be the single issue deciding this election.
Viva Zapata-ro!! Viva Mexico!!. I am very proud of you Mr. McCain thank´s for your international opinions so you are so smart.
Where the hell is Spain?. Was it somewhere there in the middle of Mexico?. And Zapatero may be he is the niece of Zapata?. Viva Zapata!.
If Mr. MacCaine ignores all about the second more influent country in the United States after the UK besides the more influent country in Latin America, lets face he ignores all about the history of the United States itself.
McCaine will feel the pain of Spain under the rain!