He didn’t have a clue about Spain. This means that he has no clue about American history. And that, for me, is a very serious issue and I don’t care if that is because he is senile or not too bright.

Oscar,

Are we debating the government of Spain at this moment or were we talking about the fact that John McCain had no clue where Spain was exactly located, that Spain does not have a president and that Spain is still an member of NATO ?

The most important issue remains for me that McCain demonstrated that he does not have a clue when it comes to foreign policies.
I still remember the picture of him, walking on a market in Baghdad, with a shrapnel vest, 120 soldiers around him, not a single Iraqi to be seen on the market and McCain goes shopping ! Then he utters the words “well, we have made enormous progress, the iraqis are free, they welcome democracy’.
The fact that the Iraqis cannot even walk on the streets anymore, that chaos rules in that country and only because there are checkpoints on almost every streetcorner there are less attacks at this moment.
If that constitutes progress for McCain then I sincerely would like to know what failure according to McCain looks like. McCain is so far out of touch with reality that even the Martians don’t understand him anymore.
Like I said, the world cannot afford another 4 years of GWB politics and McCain shows over and over again that he will be exactly like GWB when it comes to foreign policy.

Thanks but no thanks.

Am amazed to read so many lies in such a short statement. Your picture of Zapatero is obviously not shared search by the majority of Spanish. You seem to forget that, talking about lies, it was not Zapatero but the previous president, Aznar, who actually lied to the whole country when his administration insisted that ETA was responsible for the Al-Qaeda bombs in Madrid. You fail to identify this as the reason why most people, voted Zapatero. You also fail to include that all polls in Spain identify Zapatero as the favourite for the next elections (So not that many Spaniards were that amazed). I know several people who have received not 400 but 480 euros. Zapatero has raised the minimum inter-professional salary to historic records. Spanish GDI and GDP are at historic highs (Check World Bank). The current credit crunch is an international issue that cannot be use to target one particular president, and still Spanish economy is growing at 2.8% (Radically faster than, for example, UK). You also fail to notice that Surplus in Aznar’s presidency were due to the privatization of three major industries and a completely unfair regional budget system. You also fail to realise that neither Aznar came to office without help. The Catalan (CIU) nationalist party supported him and here is the reason why Spanish budget (I recommend to read both, White and Red Budget books from 2004) were completely unacceptable and unfair. And finally something that seems not too important to you but social politic and liberties has been dramatically improved by Zapatero’s administration. Not to mention that the rightwing in Spain (probably you hung around with the most extreme of it) and the previous president was still funding Pro-Franco associations, against abortion (unless it happens inside their party), against gay liberties, immigration, free religion-choice education and an extremely long list of affairs. Bottom line is, like or not, that most of Spain, its citizens and its neighbours are extremely happy with the current administration.

Hey the way you went on about Zapatero, I think you should really make your mind up and vote for McCain.  Voting for Obama would be a waste of your time. 

Zapatero is one of the most progressive leaders in the world today, trying to do his best in a country run for years by the church, banks and old money.  And that is why McCain would have an issue meeting with him, just like Bush did.

Addressing you points one by one :

1) The taxes on recording equipment were not his idea. they were forced on him by the music license owners and music publishers as their royalty “cut” on all the legal (and illegal) downloaded and copied music stored on hard drives, computers, etc.

2) The 400€ refund is being given back over a 6 month period for salaried people. Everyone I know who has a payslip has started getting their rebate, the first payment was last June (i think!).  What kind of people are you hanging out with ?

3) He hasn´t handled ETA all that well, that is true.  But he is negotiating, and that is a good start.  Would you rather he declare war on them instead ?

4) The economy is a gift he inherited from the Aznar government which like economies everywhere in the West today was based more in risk, hype and mirrors than real growth.  It was always going to come crashing down.

Alex, you also got the American syndrome of not knowing history. The American ship sunk during the Spanish American War was in Havana’s harbor, that is in Cuba, not near Puerto Rico.

Perhaps there is another Spain, but last time I was there Spain still had a king, Juan Carlos, and he has been king since 1987, which is much longer than McCain will ever be in power (if he is ever elected) and I think McCain should feel privileged if he is allowed to meet King Juan Carlos.
Meeting Zapatero (the prime minister) is something he will have to do, since Spain is also a member of NATO and the EU and normally NATO members meet every once and awhile.
Also, last time I checked Spain could be found in Europe and not in Latin America; South of France and next to Portugal. But perhaps McCain has a different map of the world.

It was perfectly clear to me that McCain has indeed studied all the names, but that he really has no idea who the people really are, what they stand for and what political ideals they have.
When I hear McCain talking I almost get the idea that I am listening to George Bush and we all know what he has done to improve relations with Latin-America.
McCain just proved that everything will remain the same once he becomes president and that is exactly what we should not be aiming for.

Why do so many American presidential candidates display so eagerly that they know absolutely nothing about what goes on in the rest of the world ?

I’m Spanish-American.  The first generation of my family born in the United States, New Jersey.  Of course, my grandfather was born in the United States as well, in West Virginia.  His sister was born in Colorado, their parents came to United States to mine for a few years, you know about 500 years after the Spanish founded America for the continent of Europe. They soon went back to Spain until that same grandfather brought my mother here, and my dad came over when he was about 25.  Everybody worked in the textile factories in Paterson, NJ.

People seem to forget that Christopher Columbus may have been Italian, but the only country that would send him off the side of the world was SPAIN.  Not Italy, though Columbus Day celebrations would certainly make you forget that.  The United States started the Spanish-American War by having sensationalist newspapers report that Spain had sunk an American ship near Puerto Rico, so we could take all their possesions.  It wasn’t much of a war.  Millions of Americans travel to Spain every year, I would contend that Spain is the most popular country to visit for university’s study abroad programs.

Spain was the target of one of the largest Al-Qaeda attacks, the Madrid train bombings, which killed more than 150 people.  The Spanish people elected a new president and got out of Iraq, while commiting more than 1000 troops to Afghanistan, they are a NATO ally.  Spain is one the world’s leaders in wind energy production and technology, they don’t make many weapons. 

John McCain heard a name in Spanish, thought he was still talking about LAtin America, and got completely lost.  Even though the interviewer said, ok now a question about Spain.  Once he had confused Zapatero’s name, the interviewer’s repetition only further confused him, all he could think was, “I dont know who she is talking about, I’ve got to be vague about my answer.”  He is an old, half-senile, and simple thinking man.  Spanish = Latin America, there are good guys and bad guys there, banana napkin dodgeball, 9/11.

It would not be so bad if they had admitted the fact that he just misunderstood, but they didn’t.  The McCain camp went on to lie, and decided quite clearly that the perception of John McCain’s mental acuity is much more important than our future relations with the fourth or fifth largest economy in Europe, our NATO ally in Afghanistan.

In this case, he is right.  The man is very old and slow.  He has sold out to everything he ever believed so he can be the president before he dies. He will start a war as president, he is going to die soon, he’d like a legacy.  He hired the same propagandizing degenerates who put up ads in South Carolina saying he had an illegitimate black child, ruining his hopes for the white house in 2000.

John McCain should be in a home for the elderly, not in the White House. 

Sarah “I got a D in macroeconomics, during my 6 years and 5 stops for a 4 year degree from Idaho” Palin, wouldn’t know the difference between Spain and a train, and would have replied, “I’m not sure what stop Mr. Zippertato would have to get off at for the White House.”

There is no good reason to talk to spain. They add nothing to any conversation. So I am not sure if the was a gaffe or not. Spain is just not that important.

Now if you are the Chosen One you might find some common ground - socailism and anti-Americaism are two topics they could share as their views are very close

It’s a very spanish syndrome, as in my cartoon…

Yes folks,that`s a reflection of McCain`s foreign policy expertise…don`t know much about anything…
but ask him about Israel and that guy won`t shut up!

Not knowing who the leader of Spain was or thinking Spain was in Latin America would not really be shocking coming from his running mate,another"winner”
who knows little-to-nothing(except perhaps,after some “intense AIPAC-schooling and the traditional,yet to
be scheduled,trip to Israel” for good measures)

But no real surprise here either,just the next loser in succession who could become this nation next president ....which would make this the proverbial “dumb and dumber” Commander-in-chief,indeed…scary!

Mc Cain just sounds tired and confused.  For his own sake he should take a vacation before the debates.  Obama is missing a bet by not doing the “town hall” meetings—any face to face interaction will show just how old and tired McCain looks, and remind us all how much of a folly it would be to let a hillbilly like Palin be a heartbeat away.

And I agree with Serenade—there’s lots if interesting stuff going on in Latin America, like in the ‘80’s, but unlike the ‘80’s, now we have a far weaker press to report it.  I remember when my home town paper the LA Times had a full time reporter just for the El Salvador/Nicaragua situation.

Why is there nothing on Truthdig about the historic gathering in Chile of 12 South American national leaders, the expulsion of several US ambassadors, and the increasingly violent (and, of course, in some cases CIA-backed) destabilization efforts by right wing groups throughout the region?

Surely they aren’t ALL dictators like Chavez, the “dictator” who has won election after election by margins large enough to give ANY American candidate electoral wet-dreams.

But you give us story after story on the Alaskan Barbie, the political pornography of Karl Rove. Come on, Truthdig, dig a little deeper, broaden your perspectives. The whole world seems to be collapsing, far beyond the realm of mere infotainment or some acceptable faux ‘opposition’.

man.. what a crab….. it seemed to me that mccain has this F you attitude towards the world in general reminiscent of the “with us or against us” crap we heard a few years back.  i wonder if he would have responded the same way if he’d been asked about receiving the queen of england. 

i really don’t understand how these people have a leg to stand on in the first place. what with all of the scandles….just the plame incident alone should have been enough to bring them down i would have thought.  these people have been a dark cloud hanging over america the last eight years. god i hope we vote them out…....i’m really afraid..

great article and site! my good friend just did a compare contrast piece on the two candidates.  pretty intriguing.
http://womenartmoney.blogspot.com/2008/09/compare-and-contrast.html

I am not a fan of John McCain and will not be voting for him. That said, there wasn’t much wrong with what he said about meeting with the Spanish president. The radio host was throwing around a lot of names and countries in a heavy accent. To McCain’s credit, every time Spain was mentioned he said, yes I would meet with them and anyone on the side of freedom, yada. He was a tad confused and clumsy. He got a little lost for a minute, but no big deal. Do you believe for a second that McCain would not be willing to meet with the Spanish – a longtime friend of the US? Please…

Truthdig, you look so silly when you put “stories” like this out. No real lasting gaffe on McCain’s part. No changing the course of the election. No nothing…Lame lame…