# McCain Offends Spain, or Foreign Policy Genius My Ass **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 18, 2008, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132 "2008-09-18T12:22:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/81 "2008-09-18T23:16:23Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > The claim now is that he knew exactly who the man is, he just doesn’t [want to meet with him](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/18/mccain-meant-to-reject-sp_n_127449.html). > > That’ll teach Spain, by Og. Sure will. Like what a flip-flopper (or totally clueless) the joker is for just back in June this is what he said in an exclusive interview with El Pais: [“Con España hay que mirar hacia adelante”](http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Espana/hay/mirar/adelante/elpepiint/20080406elpepiint_2/Tes?print=1) “With Spain we have to look forward.” > [@McCain](#): > > …es el momento de dejar atrás discrepancias con España" y añade: "Me gustaría que [el presidente Zapatero] visitara Estados Unidos. Yo estoy muy interesado, no sólo en normalizar las relaciones con España, sino en conseguir unas relaciones buenas y productivas con objeto de atender muchos asuntos y desafíos a los que tenemos que hacer frente juntos Translation: “_…'tis the moment to leave aside differences with Spain" and added "I’d like for (President Zapatero) to visit the United States. I am very interested in not only normalizing relations with Spain, but in obtaining good and productive relations with the object of tending to many affairs and challenges which we have to face together…_” Let’s get real here, the guy clearly had a senile moment and instead of avoiding an answer he went right into “foot-in-mouth” disease. The rest is all spin in order to cover for same. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/82 "2008-09-18T23:36:27Z")
I think that McCain is perhaps just a HUGE 3 Dog Night fan and has so internalized the song, “Never Been to Spain”. Maybe he also think the music is ok, but the ladies are insane there? What does it matter? 😛 McMoron is my name for him. It seems to fit. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/83 "2008-09-18T23:38:16Z")
I don’t think it was a “senile moment”, the interviewer is speaking with an accent, he clearly just got lost in the sentence and then could not keep up. How many times a week does this happen to a normal non-senile person? Wait- back up there, I lost you for a second. But the reaction is certainaly problematic. In the moment, he got stubborn and pissy. Then, with time to think and supposed experts in public relations advising him, they decide not to admit a small, miniscule, absolutely unremarkable moment of inattention or misunderstanding and move on, instead they risk offending a NATO ally to cover ass. [The response of Zapatero:](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_el_pr/eu_spain_mccain;_ylt=AiU8So4TSPE9QoHGb0T0_OKyFz4D) > [@](#): > > I think it is logical that he show the necessary prudence, because first there has to be an electoral process. Good lord, the guy is getting diplomacy lessons in real time from his aspirational peers. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/84 "2008-09-18T23:41:03Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > McCain’s thought bubble: _Why the hell is this person asking me about [Zapata](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emiliano_Zapata)?_ I was thinking it was more: “Zapata? ZAPATA!? SMOKEY-SMOKEY!!! Shoulda shot him in Chiapas when I had the chance!!! Oh-Oh-OOOOOOOOHHHH!” ---
**Author:** ![Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicolas_Bourbaki)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/85 "2008-09-18T23:42:34Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > I think this is an important point. George Bush was barely hurt at all by his repeated blunders on foreign policy during the 2000 election, in large part because of this sentiment. People thought “heck, _I_ don’t know who the leader of Pakistan is, who am I to give the guy a hard time about it?” To be perfectly fair, Bush did better on that question than McCain did. IIRC, his exact response was along the lines of “His name’s General . . . a General . . . he’s a friend of ours”. That is, he only forgot Musharraf’s name, but remembered he held military rank and we had good relations with him. McCain, on the other hand, struck out on everything, and in a real live interview, not a glorified trivia contest. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/86 "2008-09-18T23:44:18Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > Translation: “_…'tis the moment to leave aside differences with Spain" and added "I’d like for (President Zapatero) to visit the United States. I am very interested in not only normalizing relations with Spain, but in obtaining good and productive relations with the object of tending to many affairs and challenges which we have to face together…_” This is so fucking hilarious! “I am very interested in normalizing relations with Spain”! Yes, America’s long conflict with Spain must, at last, come to an end. But what will I do with my _Death to Spain!_ t-shirt? Whose picture will I throw darts at, now that it’s no longer going to be PC to mutilate magazine cutouts of Zapatero? DAMN YOU, SPAIN. You and your peacemaking ways! No, McCain, don’t trust them wily Spaniards! ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/87 "2008-09-19T00:02:28Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > And Bush senior --it’s too bad he didn’t hear a voice out of a burning tree asking him to sacrifice his sons. That’s a bit harsh- I’d rather suggest that he shouldda gotten a babs blowjob instead. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/88 "2008-09-19T00:15:50Z")
> [@stolichnaya](#): > > The response of Zapatero: > > [QUOTE= Zapatero] > > I think it is logical that he show the necessary prudence, because first there has to be an electoral process. Good lord, the guy is getting diplomacy lessons in real time from his aspirational peers. [/QUOTE] Translated from diplomacy speak: “Let’s just see if the old man gets elected first before we Spaniards worry, eh?” Ha! I love it! It will be a week before McCain and his people know they’ve been insulted! ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/89 "2008-09-19T00:21:27Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > No, McCain, don’t trust them wily Spaniards! And especially don’t send the submarine USS Maine to visit Malaga! ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/90 "2008-09-19T00:41:58Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > And especially don’t send the submarine USS Maine to visit Malaga! Stop making fun of McCain’s age! ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/91 "2008-09-19T00:47:40Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Translated from diplomacy speak: > > “Let’s just see if the old man gets elected first before we Spaniards worry, eh?” > > Ha! I love it! It will be a week before McCain and his people know they’ve been insulted! HOW DARE YOU!!! :mad::mad::mad: The only reason why McCain was reticent to offer support to Zapatero was because HE WAS A POW! And back then, Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist! Spaniards are clearly not to be trusted! Back to reality. I am not a Senator, nor am I running for President, much less on a platform of my national security credentials, and let’s see how many European leaders I can name? I’m not cheating, no fake… UK - Gordon Brown Italy - Berlusconi (again…) Spain - Zapatero France - Sarkozy Germany - Merkel Ukraine - That guy who got poisoned Denmark - Anders Fogh Rasmussen Russia - Dimitri Medvedev And yeah, that’s it. But I’m just some cracker who reads the news on a daily basis. Could the Senator possibly know a little more than me about this shit? They’re right though. Bush wasn’t given a name, and he knew the person of whom the interviewer was speaking. McCain was given the name, and he drew a blank. And lets not forget, that Zapatero wasn’t a normal boring President. He was elected a few days after the al queda attack on Madrid. The PP tried to blame it on ETA in order to win the election but the people caught on to that quick enough. It was a huge deal in international politics which resulted in the Spanish withdrawal from Iraq. Spaniards were ridiculed among right-wing assholes for being cowards, etc… So really I might understand McCain not knowing the President of Spain. Let’s face it Spain isn’t France or Italy or Germany, but Zapatero had a pretty memorable election ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/92 "2008-09-19T01:58:23Z")
> [@Merkwurdigliebe](#): > > …So really I might understand McCain not knowing the President of Spain. Let’s face it Spain isn’t France or **Italy** or Germany, but Zapatero had a pretty memorable election All well and good with your post till the bolded nation. For you see, things change: [In the first of a series of articles to mark upcoming elections on both sides of the Med, John Hooper compares life in Italy and Spain and finds that it is not only in GDP that the Iberians have the upper hand](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/05/italy.spain) > [@](#): > > Spain’s greater political stability is one key to its better economic performance. Over the past 12 years, its economic growth has been three times that of Italy’s. > > Even in areas where the Italians would seem to have a built-in advantage, they have slipped behind. Rome – the Colosseum, Forum and Vatican notwithstanding – gets fewer tourists nowadays than Barcelona. The same is true of industries in which Italians have centuries of experience. Today, the world’s biggest fashion chain, Zara, is Spanish, as is Europe’s largest bank, Santander. > > Last December, Italians were appalled to learn that, in the previous year, Spain’s real per capita gross domestic product had overtaken their own. For more than a century they had grown accustomed to regarding their Spanish ‘cugini’ or cousins with a sort of affectionate condescension. **Yet here was the EU’s statistics office telling them that their “poor relations” were actually richer.** Moreoever: [Italy: The sick man of Europe](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/04/15/dl1502.xml) Point being that Spain has now surpassed Italy’s GDP per capita. A fact that shouldn’t scape any worldly politician when dissing (foot in mouth or not) a nation that is actually above the economic standards of one of its G7/8 members. Mind you, there’s no denying that our building boom has hit a wall and we’re not currently in the best of times, but by the same token, Spain remains, per capita, the second most desired destination for immigrants in the world only after the US of A. Again, we might only match California’s GDP, but neither California nor Spain are small beans. And I happen to know both, where they are located and their capitals and Presidents/Governors. In fact, while raised in Spain I married a California lady and lived there for some time. Guess I’m as qualified as they come to lead the Free World… ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/93 "2008-09-19T02:01:56Z")
PS-Doubt thre is a single European on board that doesn’t know who Zapatero is. For good or for bad he’s left quite a mark on the political scene, not the least of which making us (the quintessential Catholic nation) I believe the fourth country in the world to fully support gay marriage…amongst many other progressive reforms. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/94 "2008-09-19T02:09:22Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > I hear ya. I work for NATO currently. I’ll have to apologize to my spanish coworkers tomorrow. What a dickweed. Let them know that this nightmare will all be over in less than 2 months. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/95 "2008-09-19T03:16:07Z")
Hey don’t get me wrong, **Red Fury** , I think Spain has better _prospects_ than Italy, but in terms of absolute importance re: US foreign policy, it’s still doesn’t have the clout of Italy. I say this as someone who’s lived in Spain for quite some time and also visit nearly every year. I love the place but I don’t consider it to be on the same list as the 60 million club yet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/96 "2008-09-19T03:54:06Z")
Translation: “_…'tis the moment to leave aside differences with Spain" and added "I’d like for (President Zapatero) to visit the United States. I am very interested in not only normalizing relations with Spain, but in obtaining good and productive relations with the object of tending to many affairs and challenges which we have to face together…_” Ya all see, McCain is really, really wily and knowledgable. And he’s really old, with a long memory and an eye for trivia. He so old that he knows that the US was at war with Spain in 1898. Because he remembers it and because he spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war. In Spain! And he knew Spain was a Monarchy, and any settlement of that war with Spain would have been voided by Franco’s removal of the monarchy. And since relations have never been “normalized” since Juan Carlos resumed the monarchy, we do not have normal relations with Spain. Where the rain falls mainly on the plane. That plane being: Air Force One. McCain cannot begin to Reign (as president) until the weather clears enough to allow a take off and return the plane to Spain. Seriously, for the guy not to know that Spain is in Europe, which it appears he did not know, as he was prompted by the interviewer that it was, should not be President, or Senator. Or dog catcher. He should be in a nursing home. My 96 year old aunt, who has some dementia knows where the hell Spain is. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/97 "2008-09-19T04:34:58Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > No, but McCain was quoted (in a pretty funny piece by [Chris Kelly](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/the-delicate-subject-of-j_b_127359.html)) as saying: > > Except that Palin’s son Track is in the Army, not the NG. And children are not an issue in this campaign. Army/National Guard, whatever. Presidente/Prime Minister, whatever. NATO ally/tinpot dictatorship, whatever. Mexican rebels/European politician, whatever. Just shut up and vote for me. details don’t matter. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/98 "2008-09-19T05:05:32Z")
Hey you guys, STFU. I have a cabinet full of documents here that prove the Franco (the current dictator of Spain) had some of his Black Hats take the ferry to Tangier. There they met with a group of Liberians who were willing to sell them yellow cake (not angel food or devil’s food). Other documents show that Zapatero and his insurgent army, including Che Guevara, were working with the Franco government on a terrorist plot to blow up the rock of Gibraltar. That’s how dangerous and fucked up these guys are. They are a threat to the free world. Did you notice that they are on the border of France which harbors the worst terrorists in the world and is sending them across the border into Spain? If Spain falls, what’s next, Portugal? Then we’re really fucked. Where are we going to get the cork for our wine bottles? You pansy-assed commie lovers can kiss my ass. I need to kill anybody with a name like Zapatero. Sounds terrorist to me. Invade! Now! Signed, John McLame (at the Naval Academy the just called me Clueless) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/99 "2008-09-19T05:58:25Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > one wonders what might happen if McCain had happened to meet with Juan Carlos… Papa John doesn’t meet with [terrorists](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_The_Jackal) :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132/100 "2008-09-19T07:24:03Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Army/National Guard, whatever. Presidente/Prime Minister, whatever. NATO ally/tinpot dictatorship, whatever. Mexican rebels/European politician, whatever. Just shut up and vote for me. details don’t matter. > > Sailboat Just FTR: The Army national Guard is still part of the Army. Just like the Air National guard is part of the Air Force. They’re kinda like the cousins you don’t want to talk about, though… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-offends-spain-or-foreign-policy-genius-my-ass/464132.md?page=6)