Spanish-American War, 2008 Style

There are a lot of ways to go with a story like this. I could go for jokes. I could say that maybe it was just a "senior moment." I'm frankly at a loss. I'm sure that Saturday Night Live will come up with something, however. I have faith.

From Josh Marshall at TPM, quoted in full:

Well, we've heard the interview now. And John McCain either doesn't know who the Prime Minister of Spain is, thinks Spain is a country in Latin America, or possibly both.

In case, you haven't seen our updates from last night, yesterday John McCain was interviewed on the Florida affiliate of Spanish radio network Union Radio. And in the interview McCain appeared not to know who the Prime Minister of Spain was and assumed he was some anti-American leftist leader from South America.

After the interviewer presses him a couple times on the point and tries to focus him on the fact that Prime Minister Zapatero isn't from Mexico and isn't a drug lord either McCain comes back at her saying, "All I can tell you is that I have a clear record of working with leaders in the Hemisphere that are friends with us and standing up to those who are not. And that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America and the entire region."

Then there's a moment of awkward pause before she says. "But what about Europe? I'm talking about the President of Spain."

McCain: "What about me, what?

Interviewer: "Are you willing to meet with him if you're elected president?"

McCain: "I am wiling to meet with any leader who is dedicated to the same principles and philosophy that we are for humans rights, democracy and freedom. And I will stand up to those who do not."

At this point, the interviewer gets tongue-tied presumably because she can't get over McCain not knowing what Spain is.

It would appear that the Spanish media is split into two factions as a result of McCain's ignorance. Half think it was a calculated insult to Spain, half think McCain is just a moron. I think both halves are selling him short. McCain is most definitely an insulting moron.

One listener to the interview had this to say, in part:

After listening to the interview, however, I agree with the characterization that McCain was unaware of our relations with Spain, or even the country's geographical and political position. When asked about meeting with Zapatero and the country's relationship with the U.S., McCain ignored the question and went into some boilerplate about America's friends and enemies and analyzing relations (think Palin and the Bush Doctrine). Then, he tried to transition his answer into more friendly territory, discussing President Calderon's government in Mexico. He never really addressed Spain, but pushed right into commenting about Mexico. The interviewer actually tried to redirect him several times (again, think Charlie Gibson and Palin), until she actually stated that she wasn't talking about Latin America anymore, but rather Europe. For whatever reason, McCain responded to this question by repeating what he said before about analyzing America's relationships with our friends and enemies.

Feel free to listen and make up your own mind.

How this will play out in the American press will be of great interest. First, McCain is supposed to be a foreign affairs expert -- and least we keep hearing that he is, in spite of gaff after gaff -- and not knowing even the name of the leader of an allied NATO nation is a bit scary. Second, it may raise age-related questions.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, "hell, I didn't know who Zapatero was either." Guess what, neither did I. However, I'm not running for president, nor was I doing an interview with a Spanish language media outlet. Had I been doing either of those things, I'd have boned up on things I didn't know on topics that such a report might want to cover. It is only common sense. This isn't play time. It's serious business for serious people. John McCain's fifteen minutes are up.

18 September 2008

Addition: So, after a full day of trying to get to the bottom of this Spain flap, here is a pretty good summation of where we stand.