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:
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.
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?
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.
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.
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!
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
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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…
