John McCain recently gave an interview with someone from the Spanish press, and did not know that their Prime Minister was named Zapatero, and appeared to confuse him with a Latin American leftist. Even after being corrected that the interviewer was talking about Europe, he apparently did not get it.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/217710.php
Can we finally put to rest the idea that this guy knows anything about foreign policy or international relations?
I’m going to reserve judgement till I see more of the transcript, but if he confused Zapatero with the Zapatistas, or with the long-dead revolutionary from whom they took their name, that’s just, um, both hilarious and scary.
One has to presume that he knew he was sitting down for an interview with someone from the Spanish press, right?
It sounds less like he was confused about who he was talking to, and more like he didn’t want to be pulled off his boilerplate comments. He probably hasn’t been briefed about Spain, so he was just trying to stick to what he has been briefed on.
Edited to add: not that that’s any better
(By George, I think I’ve got it!)
♪ ♫ McCain’s campaign draws mainly Spain’s disdain
Spain’s disdain comes mainly from McCainAnd where’s all this disdain?
In Spain! In Spain!
And what can they do in Spain?
Complain! Complain!McCain’s campaign draws mainly Spain’s disdain…
McCain’s campaign draws mainly Spain’s disdain ♫ ♪
His mind was other places that day. I know he’s been preoccupied lately, trying to come up with new ways to keep the Blackberry competitive against the iPhone and the Android powered smartphones.
I’m kind of confused – was McCain being interviewed on Miami radio station AM 1260? I think that’s what the story on Talking Points Memo means. I can almost see where he would assume that an interviewer on a Miami radio station would be asking about Latin American affairs. That doesn’t do much to excuse his (apparent – still waiting for more information) gaffe, but at first I thought he was talking to a guy in Spain.
ETA: And, TPM says that McCain didn’t do much better even after the interviewer said, “But we’re talking about Europe.”
Mock on, mock on. Kinda reminds me of the liberal mockery of Reagan. He turned out to be one of the most popular Presidents in US history, much to the liberals’ chagrin and frustration. You honestly think John Q Public out there give a cuss about this?
I think I can understand the confusion, but it certainly doesn’t speak well to:
a) his handlers vetting his interview requests.
b) his ability to think well on his feet.
c) possibly his knowledge of world leaders and our diplomatic relationships.
Note that on point C, I don’t expect him to know off the top of his head how we interact with every country in the world, but I would expect him to do his homework going into an interview.
No, I expect his constituency is mostly too dumb to care. This shouldn’t, for the most part, affect his election chances at all.
Jusus Christ on a pogo stick! That has to be one of the most bizrre interviews I’ve ever heard. The guy was completly clueless as to who Zapatero was – even after being told “we’re talking about Spain, in Europe.” 
You can hear the whole mess here:
(scroll down half a page to his pic)
What a tool!
Overheard at the neighborhood BoJangles Restaurant this morning:
“McCain thought they were talking about the Latins…The guy he was talking to was speaking Mexican”
Hand to God!
Great, on-topic point. However, I think that people may have been more willing to give Reagan a pass on not knowing stuff than they will McCain because of Reagan’s youth relative to McCain.
In the Washington Monthly report linked by Bayard above, the Miami broadcast was a re-broadcast of an interview that was done in Spain.
“McCain didn’t appear to know that Spain was in Europe, or that the leader of Spain was named Zapatero, even after he was told that Zapatero was the leader of Spain.”
Those pesky senior moments seem to be more and more frequent as this campaign heats up. Those moments may/will be his downfall.
No mocking, but I can honestly tell you most of the people I knew back when Reagan was in office did not like him. His popularity depends on a point of view, I think. When they had his funeral my boss called me and told me that it we all had the day off because of it. I told him 'Well, thats the first thing Reagan ever did for me." Then I was pissed because it was all on TV and I had to go rent some movies.
Besides, Reagan has ***nothing to do with whatever stupid crap comes out of McCain’s mouth right now in the present at all. ***
For fuck’s sake, it’s not simply “mocking” it is a serious question about McCain’s ability to be President. Are you TRYING to make conservatives look like the ignorant asses they are seen to be on this board?
Plus, Reagan got to co-star with a chimpanzee in one of his movies. Everybody loves chimpanzees.
On the other hand, POW POW POW.
I can actually understand why McCain gave the answer he did.
Imagine if you were unprepared for an interview (it happens), and the reporter asks you if you would meet with Mr. X. Even Mr. X of Country Y. Now, granted, you should have been prepared for the interview and sure as heck should have known there would be questions about Country Y popping up from time to time based on the very nature of the interview. But that’s neither here nor there. You’re being asked if you would meet with a person who you don’t recognize and the only thing going through your mind is “is this a trick question? Is this guy a good guy or a bad guy? What if I say I want to meet with a bad guy? Will I be lambasted as sympathizing with my enemies?”
And there’s the key. If you’ve already blasted your opponent for even daring to suggest that communicating with the enemy is acceptable, you damned well better not be caught saying the same thing.
And so you say “um…all good guys I’ll meet with and all bad guys I’ll confront!” and you pray to God that that’s the end of the line of questioning.