Wonkette
We have listened to this recording of John McCain’s interview with Radio Caracol Miami where he appears not to know who the prime minister of Spain is, or whether or not he’d be willing to meet with him. It is just … weird.
At the end, the interviewer says, “I’m talking about the president of Spain,” and McCain gets all touchy. Perhaps, like many Vietnam vets, he suffered some hearing loss in the war, and now he’s not so great on the phone with people who speak rapid, accented English? Or (MORE LIKELY) he honestly believes that America must take a very tough stand on these Latin American dictators, including the guy who runs Spain, a democracy in Europe. Or! (LIKELIEST!) He thinks Zapatero is the Mexican guy in that Marlon Brando movie he liked so much.
El Cid — in English [Talking Points Memo]
Wait Franco is not running spain anymore?! Where have I been the last 30 years?
It could have been worse, McCain could have said it was Don Quixote.
In before “McCain is old” joke
Of course Walnuts has no clue who this guy is. Lieberman wasn’t there to wisper sweet nothings into his ear.
No, he is preemptively apprehensive against Spain because it’s going to be Russia by the end of the decade and Jammakane just hates Russia. Because he thinks it’s 1978.
That’s it… Put Spain on notice. They’re next on the “to invade” list.
this is exactly the kind of response I wanted from my future president.
I thought Spain was now part of Russia after they invaded S. Ossetia and lost.
Oh, Zapatero, Zapata, Zanzibar, Zaire–who could possibly keep it all straight? Why would the President of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ever need to know who runs that little old country in the European Whozits, anyway? Besides, it’s not like this Z guy has been there for FIVE AND A HALF YEARS, ALAN.
Sarah Palin thinks a zapatero is the new special at Taco Bell.
I just finished listening to this interview, and it was the most bizarre thing evah… I mean, clearly the guy is well versed in the Latin American political situation and can rattle off the names of the major political players in the region (could you imagine Sarah Palin asked the same questions? Let me answer that for you: No. No, you can’t). No doubt McCain harbors a fondness for the people and the land of his birth. But when attention turns to Spain the guy is completely off balance. He refuses to say whether or not he’d be willing to meet with the president of Spain. I mean… WTF!? I don’t know if it’s scarier to think that McCain’s refusal is based upon his ignorance of the Spanish political landscape, or if it’s based upon knowledge of it. Is he refusing to say because he’s completely lost or is it because he’s still pissed that Spain was one of the first major European “coalition of the billing” to pull its troops from Iraq.
at this point, i think most people in latin america would wholeheartedly say “fuck off” if someone told them to their faces that free trade has improved their lives. it’s a flat fucking lie.
“He’s the President of Spain……in what respect Charlie?”
McCain may still be under the impression that Spain is a monarchy.
Hey, Walnuts is not happy with two wars on one continent. He wants to start a war on every continent, because he knows how to win wars.
Cripes, between him & Palin, foreign policy will be like pin the tail on the donkey where the lucky winner gets bombed! USA! USA!
Senator Grampa McNasty’s tendency to get offended by any one who dares to question him is pretty unattractive.
It seriously is an answer that you’d expect from Palin, not from McCain. Spanish-American relations are touchy. The president of Spain hasn’t been invited to the White House since he took office. Apparently in part because Bush got all touchy about his supporting Kerry, back in the day. Doesn’t help that Spain disagrees with our “we can’t seeeee you” policy toward Cuba and also loves selling military tchockes to Venezuela.
That McCain didn’t do his homework, before talking to a reporter from Spain, says a lot.
1337b07: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
Hey, the guy’s gonna be friends with our friends and enemies with our enemies. What more could you ask for?
southernbitch: No, they’d say “fucko offo”. I think.
Dontcha love how the Republicans get so angry at tinpot dictator (or Hero of the People) Hugo Chavez (or “chay-vez” as Juan calls him) because they suffer from terminal nostalgia for communism: life was so much better when we had a single, scary, nation-state enemy.
Sorry, pal. It’s over, and we sold everything we have to the last “communist” government on earth: China.
Doglessliberal: You beat me to it, you bastard. Yo Quiero Taco Bell!!
He’s still pissed about how the Line of Demarcation turned out. Just ask him about Pope Alexander VI.
To be fair, Zapatero is the Prime Minister of Spain, not the President.
Also: tl/dl
I hate “name that foreign leader” games between candidates, because it’s clear neither one knows dick-all about the foreign leaders who they’re not interested in bombing. I mean, Barry once namedropped the *President* of Canada, so, let’s not get into this shit.
“We’ve got to end this Inquisition, my friends, and end it now!”
Serolf Divad: They’re giving extra troops to help out in Afghanistan, though, so you’d think that the Iraqi pullout (snerk) would sort of be water under the bridge, by now. Hell, we’re pulling out as well.
No reporter should ever be allowed to interview McSenile without having video of the exchange from here on out. We need Youtube, not mp3 files.
Sadly this will make no difference. The McSenile voter doesn’t know who Zapatero is either and couldn’t find Spain on a map even if it was labeled. They think all Hispanics (ie, those who speak Spanish) are uppity brown furriners.
I am still hoping for a stroke during the debates.
Spain…hmmm…Spain — not sure. Is that anywhere near Transalpine Gaul?
SlouchingTowardsWasilla: A president with more than 6 working brain cells.
Zapatero is a fine looking man. Awesome accent, too. I may be getting the vapors here.
Godless Liberal: Maybe I’ve missed a level of snark here, but it is a monarchy. The interviewer is wrong to say “President”
And the press will write it off as a “senor’ moment”
The McCain in Spain falls mostly on the Palin?
Cogito Ergo Bibo: If only we had ‘pulled out’ earlier.
Da Derga: D’oh. Righto. My non-Euro brain tends to not think about the differences between president and prime minister.
I know, like Zapatero has only been prime minister for like a few years, right. It’s really an understandable mistake. Oh, and the interviewer was clearly an immigrant, or something.
Clearly he’s still in shock from the great tragedy of his youth, when those damn Spanish terrorists blew up the Maine in 1898. NEVER FORGET!
freakishlystrong: Ha!
I thought we could put Florida on eBay and Spain could buy it back. Better know who the PM of Spain is so we can give proper feedback…
Mac: “Well I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition….”
(Poke him with the soft cushions.)
Wasn’t he a P.O.W. during the Spanish-American War?
He is going to war with Zappos!
Palin doesn’t blink when she says they speak Latin in Latin America.
The President of Spain is a Zip Car?
TJBeck:
FTW.
obfuscator: Cantankerous Ol’ Bastard ‘08!
freakishlystrong: Somebody should slap you for that pun. I laughed, but it’s really bad.
1337b07: Nope here’s where that whole deal went sour.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28022
Godless Liberal: Or he still thinks it’s run by Moors, and he can’t remember if they’re the good Muslims or bad Muslims.
…he was having a flashback to the Spanish American war!
Vanity Smurf: It’s good to know that Portuguese and Brasilians are not “hispanic” to the Repugs.
McCain has a total lack of affect until he gets mad at the end. Sounds like a schizophrenic who has been partially sedated with some really heavy drug like Thorazine.
A Geek Tragedy: Actually, in Spain the prime minister is referred to as the “presidente del gobierno” — the president of the government as opposed a president of state, which they don’t have, because it’s a monarchy.
I know this because I lived in Spain. Back then I could see Spain from my house! Am I qualified to be vice-president?
It’s strange because I thought McCain served in the officer’s exchange program aboard the Spanish Armada during the Battle of the Gravelines?
InsidiousTuna: Good point–whoever this Z señor is, he’s head of the SOCIALIST party, and nobody wants that, right? I mean, socialism might mean the government would have some kind of responsibility when the market fails, and who wants that crap?
I, for one, welcome our new Spanish overlords…
TJBeck: FTW!
He loves their “fly”.
It’s not fair when they interview McCain before naptime.
where is teddy roosevelt when you need him.
maybe Walnuts should have tapped Crist [wokka], I think he can see Hispania from his house
Will said reporter be invited to Walnuts’ next BBQ? Me thinks not.
Spain? What country did *they* invade?
mookworthjwilson: I may be welcoming them pretty soon. Like, right after the election, if Grampy wins. I always did like Barcelona…
I’d hope McCain knew some Latin American trivia, his stompin’ grounds for the past 120 years of his life have been Mexico-bordering desert lands. Barry, meanwhile, has been suckling on supple roast pig and exotic fruit on the elitist Kingdom of Hawaii, and therefore “gets” Pacific islanders and possibly Asians. Palin has lived on the desolate frozen tundra of Russian North America and therefore “gets” the dastardly Soviet menace, and Biden… Jesus is that get still around, I haven’t heard from him in like a month, anyways he can’t “get” anyone because Delaware is a horrible little nook of nothing.
Tapa your game, Johnny!
Da Derga: Actually, while is the Head of Government in a parliamentary system–and thus a Prime Minister–his official title is President. Spain is weird that way.
Isn’t Zapatero one of the fundamentals of the US economy?
Hunter Gathers: Well, yes…but just to bus the tables.
Don’t you get it, you libtards? The Madrid subway bombing was an inside job!
mattbolt:
Delaware is a land of:
- toll booths
- tax free shopping
- barge and ship registration
- insurance companies
- chickens, lots and lots of chickens
- DuPont, the company, I can’t see the family members hanging out in Dover much unless they like to play penny slots.
stew: Makes you wonder what he’s like at 3am?
So I guess we know what the executive order of a McCain presidency would be: “Bring me the head of Luis Zapatero”
mookworthjwilson: No, the ‘American Workers’ are the fundamentals of the ‘ecomony’. Now stop trashing the american worker you commie pinko lefty elitist atheist bastard.
Vanity Smurf: Be my guest, maybe it’ll knock me out until Nov. 4…
grendel: What? They don’t speak Spanish in Brazil? Nobody could have known that.
medievalist: Thanks for the correction. I have no excuse for not knowing that. I live in Portugal - so close that people forget it’s a seperate country. Ergo I am a tard.
John McCain is still dead.
Terry: don’t forget credit card companies!
What McCain actually said was, “Meet Zapatero my ass, I will follow him to the gates of hell! Remember the Maine!”
Sweet Jeebus…does he next want to get Franco out of there? !Viva Espana!
freakishlystrong: I didn’t say where you should be slapped.
Hunter Gathers: You’re right about everything cept the commie part…and I am only a bastard after a couple of shots…
Zapatero - isn’t that the taco stand next to McCain House Number 6? I wouldn’t meet with that guy either…
HE COULDN’T HEAR HER, you guys. His hearing aid was turned off.
The rain in Spain falls mainly on McCain….I think he’s got it.
freakishlystrong: win
Walnuts needs to do something to change the subject. My suggestion:
M
A
R
S
“Mars, bitches. During my first 100 days as POTUS, I will send V.P. Palin to Mars to meet with the Supreme Martian Overlord. She’s an expert on Martian relations, as she has watched ‘Total Recall’ like a million times. President WALNUTS has spoken!”
argh! “McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Sheunemann said McCain’s answer was intentional.”
I’d rather McCain were just senile, actually
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/18/mccain_slights_spanish_prime_m.html#more
Walnuts war injuries render him incapable of using computers, blackberries, and understanding what foreigners are talkin’ about in their funny accents. You know, these are the things we should be sympathetic of because when a Rooskie is pointing a gun at your head, they’ll take all those things into consideration and play nice
have a couple of gun-boats shell Valencia. That will bring the dastardly Spanish back into line.
A Geek Tragedy: Where in Portugal? I’m shopping for a new home if Walnuts! and Caribou Barbie manage to steal this thing…
Borat: But, but… John McCain INVENTED the Blackberry!
1:20 asked about Bolivia… we should pay more attention to the region and support the president in Columbia… aren’t Bolivia and Columbia like totally different countries?
McCain is willing to meet with anyone who agrees with him — that’s how he embraces change.
He is not willing, however, to answer any questions about subjects not on his index cards.
Boy, Walnuts can sure think on his feet can’t he? He should always do interviews with Bush’s debate earpiece. That way his slightly better informed servants can tell him how many houses he owns and where Spain is.
we should support the president of Columbia - in maintaining a steady supply of cocaine to the Department of the Interior
On another note, Palin is starting to cancel her upcoming appearances. Maybe she’s heading for Spain to calm things down…
Doglessliberal:
True, which is why our overlords are Delawarians rather than the Spanish.
grendel: Mostly in Braga, which would be a dreadful choice to flee from conservatives to (it’s kind of like the 50s). I also have lodgings in Lisbon (cause of work stuff). Lisbon is fantastic; I should live here all the time.
Doglessliberal: McGrampy “refused to commit to a meeting”? That’s the official spin? Uh, just, no. He wandered all over the globe in search of a topic he felt comfortable discussing. And since they speak Spanish in Meh-hico, that’s where he went. Gimme a break. If he didn’t want to commit to a meeting, he would have said, “I don’t have the information necessary to commit to a meeting.” Very simple. Not start spouting some drivel about South America.
loudmouthredhead: Franco: Regime Change is the Only Solution
- Stockpiling weapons of mass destrucción
- Hijacked Radical Roman Catholicism
- Historical ties to the Moors and Radical Islam
Give the guy a break, he may not know who the leader of one of our allies in the war on terror, but Johnny-Mac know DADDY YANKEE!!
stew: Sarah’s canceled appearances so she cn learn to dance to GASOLINA
stew: Palin is naving an affair with Carly Fiorina - both are disappearing together…
Cogito Ergo Bibo: sadly, this is too substantive and complex to have any effect. Voters are looking at the important stuff like who designs Palin’s glasses.
Johnny Zhivago: Spain did just legalize same-sex marriage. I think I’m seeing the connection.
McCain is still pissed at the raw deal his ship mate Columbus got from Queen Isabella.
Doglessliberal: Sigh. You’re right. I should just devote more time to learning Spanish, since I’ll be moving there on Nov. 5.
Donde esta la zapateria?
Silly old coot Juan McCain.
Of course he knows nothing about Spain. He lives in Arizona.
You can’t SEE Spain from ARIZONA!
If Juan had lived in, say, Gibraltar or Portugual or someplace, he coulda SEEN Spain and then had some applicable foreign policy experience.
And he sure doesn’t need to meet with this Zapatero guy, ‘coz he’s a shoemaker and Juan already has ALL the $500 Ferragamos that he’ll ever need. So fuck him with a shoehorn.
The foundations of Juan’s Ferragamos are still fundamentally sound. Even if his brain isn’t.
WALNUTS! can’t be bothered to do his homework on these countries! You know, for five and a half years WALNUTS! couldn’t do homework at all.
By that, I of course mean college.
snig: Even better, maybe he thinkls it’s run by the MOOPS….
mookworthjwilson:
10 Zapateros = 1 Amero.
God I love John McCain, instead of admit he was wrong and wasn’t sure who the PM of Spain was, he’d rather get all standoffish and refuse to meet with him. If he gets elected things are going to be so fun. Horridly horridly fun.
http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/
I’m offended that either candidate would be willing to meet with a dirty Spaniard unconditionally, and that condition being that they don’t say anything in their dirty, backward language. Why do our candidates hate English?
Johnny Zhivago: Zing!
Miller: Johnny WALNUTS!’s rant there was very revealing… if Barry’s smart, he’ll point out that he basically said “You’re either with us, or against us.” And then repeated it when it turned out he had no idea what Spain is.
We’re all Spanish today!
I love that McCain can take issue with Hugo Chavez, but when it comes to the murderous Uribe administration, he feels that we should show our support; murdered labor activists be damned!
Throw in the contents of the Prado as plunder and I’m totally down with Walnut’s Spanish adventure!
mocowbell: I want a Picasso for my kitchen wall, please.
mocowbell: I’d like one of those old Goya’s. I’ll put it in the guest room so that baby Jeebus can stare at them all night.
Spain, home of both leggy Svetlana and Las Hijas del Tomate. I’m glad to hear that they are in our hemisphere now. They on the other hand may not welcome the news, but if they’re smart they will not sneeze at Juan McCains invitation.
According to his spokesman, he knew who it was.
Which means that for him the social democratic leader of a NATO ally is as bad as Chavez or Hammy-dinna-jadd.
Senile or batshit insane? This time I actually believe the McCain spin.
WALNUTS! doesn’t negotiate with pennyloafers like that “Zapato” and his fellow terrorists. That’s for womenfolk.
mattbolt: he blew the title but did he get the right country?
McCain just sounds incredibly tired and unfocused throughout this entire interview. He obviously didn’t have much interest in the questions. It’s really looking like the campaign is wearing him down. I’m guessing that another week of his falling poll numbers and blood sugar, and we’ll see him really go off on some reporter.
I think McCain was confused by the Latin Heat….the Guatemalanness….of the interviewer.
And he missed his nap.
Special Agent Jack Mehoff: thank yew. My keyboard is now covered with spittake beer.
InsidiousTuna: For the uninitiated, that would be: “Chinga te, cabron!”
Norbert: hispaniola?
Let’s be fair, when Walnuts was young Spain WAS part of South America (Pangaea)
Giant Robot: colOmbia
People from Mexico are Mexican not Spanish
In case anyone cares, here are my real life actual serious thoughts about this interview.
A Geek Tragedy: Not to be picky, but the PM of Spain is referred to as the President of the government (wiki says so), so most people refer to the leader of the government as the Spanish president. Regardless, Walnuts must have fallen asleep because he kept on referring to “Latin America” in his answer.
Really, no harm done. It just means that Spain will side with the Uppities if and when a Civil War breaks out if McPalin win.
Serolf Divad: Oh you and your actual serious thoughts. So adorable.
McCain was totally confusing Zapatero with the Zapatistas, which is of course just awful. But quite apart from his policy initiatives with regards to the foreigns, listening to his tone of voice, I was more concerned that Radio Caracol might have dialled the wrong number and accidentally reached the Simpsons’ Hans Moleman.
I bet those Spanish pussies don’t even play ice hockey
grendel: I’m thinking Costa Rica might be better to move to.
Sara K. Smith:
Tragic, really. I’m sort of like the teary eyed clown you see in felt paintings… but without the black-light.
At 4:22 he says “in the hemisphere.” He missed the name of the country, and was trying to bluff. Not the end of the world.
But now his campaign has declared that it was intentional. Which means that they’re now writing the McCain Foreign Policy around him screwing up in an interview. The next time McCain refers to Czechoslovakia, they’re going to send out an email explaining that he supports re-unification.
lilblackcorvette: Thanks… I always spell it Columbia in memory of of my favorite space shuttle. I’m very patriotik.
CNN and the Post have reported that this was an intentional slight of Zapatero on McCain’s part. So McCain’s not a confused old fool — he’s just a vindictive old bastard. Much better.
Hey,
John knows all about Spain. Because like 30% of people in Arizona speak Spanish.
All you liberals are a bunch of idiots.
vpmooseburger dot com
Someone drain the old coot’s colostomy bag before he starts WWIII.
VP Mooseburger: What part of People from Mexico are Mexican not Spanish did you not understand
Somebody needs to get the bat-trees in his hearing aid checked!
http://www.entertonement.com/collections/3970/John-McCain-On-Spain
Doglessliberal: Either that, or that online shoe store with the dancing UPS guy.
The MSNBC shows missed the best part of the interview–when he’s asked about Zapatera and Walnuts starts ranting about the Mexican drug cartels.
Huh?
Maybe instead of Joe Lieberman to give him the answers, he needed the Divine Mrs. P–that is, if they thought to include Spain in her flash cards.
Who gives a shit about spain