John McCain's singular claim to the White House, beyond his status as the only Celebrity POW allowed to use that status for political gain, appears to be his Foreign Policy expertise. Nonetheless, he doesn't know Sunni from Shia, Iranian Extremists from Al Qaeda, or even Halloween from Purim. Now, John McCain expands his magnificent list of foreign policy gaffes to the Spanish-speaking world:
In the interview, McCain is asked about Hugo Chavez, the situation in Bolivia and then about Raul Castro. He responds to each of these with expected answers about standing up to America's enemies, etc. Then the interviewer switches gears and asks about Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister. And McCain replies -- very loose translation -- that he'll establish close relations with our friends and stand up to those who want to do us harm. The interviewer has a double take and seems to think McCain might be confused. So she asks it again. But McCain sticks to the same evasive answer.
In other words: yo no s+¬ nada. Translation: I do not know anything.
Maybe after he's done bombing Iran, and laying waste to Wall Street, McBush will lay waste to Spain or some yet-to-be-determined Latin-American country.
Magnifico!
When asked about Spain and Zapatero, by a Spanish reporter for a Spanish newspaper, McCain responded about Mexico and Latin America. A reader suggested something that Josh had already considered, that perhaps McCain thought the reporter was talking about the Zapatistas in Mexico, the guerilla group. But that's not possible as the reporter clearly said she was talking about Spain and Spain's leader, Zapatero. She told McCain this twice. Let me tell you exactly what she asked McCain (per the translation):"Senator, finally, let's talk about Spain. If you're elected president, would you invite President Zapatero to meet with you in the White House?"
McCain then gives this odd answer about America's friends and America's enemies. He also, oddly, talks about Mexico (why Mexico? The question was about Spain) and how he'd invite friendly leaders to the White House. She then asks him again, would that invitation include President Zapatero? He says again that he'd have to review relations first, blah blah. She then says again, "so you'd have to wait to see, so would you meet with him in the White House?" He again repeats his weird statement about friends and enemies. McCain also throws in, oddly, to the Spanish reporter, when she's asking him about meeting the Spanish president, a line about the importance of our relationship with Latin America (this is now the second time he answered a question about meeting the president of Spain with an answer about Latin America). She then says to McCain one last time:
"Okay, but I'm talking about Europe - the president of Spain, would you meet with him?"
This time, there was no room for confusion. McCain then gives this very bizarre answer:
"I will meet with any leader who has the same principles and philosophy as us in terms of human rights, democracy, and freedom and I will stand up to those who do not."
What does concern about human rights, democracy and freedom have to do with a prerequisite for meeting the president of Spain? Especially when you told the same paper 5 months ago that you'd be happy to meet with him.
McCain had no idea what was going on in the interview...
This McCain is not the same McCain that after 911 publicly supported a bill to reduce foreign dependencies on oil through higher energy efficiency regulations.
It is really sad.
Fortunately, McCain doesn't know that Zapatero translates into "shoemaker," or he'd throw something in about how much respect he has for the folks who handcraft his wife's footwear...