TIME- Did McCain Diss Spain? Gaffe or New Member of Axis of Evil?

[Median Democrat]

There is a lot of tap dancing going on in the McCain camp trying to explain McCain's frosty discussion of Spain, in which he appears to throw Spain's President in with Hugo Chavez, which is odd given that Spain, unlike Georgia, is a member of NATO. Also, McCain's camp did say in June that McCain would welcome Spain's president to the White House.

So, does McCain simply admit that he was confused and uninformed. Or, does the McCain camp try to spin this as McCain intended to re-examine our relations with Spain, and that Spain really should be named in the same breath as Hugo Chavez.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1842156,00.html?imw=Y

/snip

Ouch. The question about Zapatero came after a series of questions on how McCain sees relations with Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba. He said he would not speak to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez "without any sort of preconditions, as Sen. Obama has said he would," and said Chavez was "depriving his people of their democratic rights." He judged Bolivia's Evo Morales as "very similar" and similarly condemned Cuba's Raul Castro. When the questioner said, "Now let's talk of Spain" and asked whether he'd invite Zapatero, McCain responded with a vague statement that he would meet "with those leaders who are our friends" and then cited Mexican president Felipe Calderon as an example. The questioner tried several more times to steer the Senator back to a clear answer on Spain, but he never directly addressed it, saying: "What I would say is that my record is that of someone who has worked in a friendly atmosphere with those who are our friends and faced up to those who aren't."

/snip

[Drunken Irishman]

1. It's like watching a train wreck.

[TomClash]

2. In what respect, Charlie? nt

[Median Democrat]

4. Would McCain Be Willing To Destroy Spanish Relations To Hide Gaffe?

Here is a Mother Jones article noting that McCain had said as recently as June that he would welcome a meeting with Spain's President. This raises the more serious question of whether McCain would be willing to create a chill in relations with a US ally in order to hide a gaffe.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/09/9787_mccain_spain_continued.html

[TwilightGardener]

5. LOL!

[DefenseLawyer]

3. You forgot Poland! n/t

[Essene]

6. I take it to be a fairly shocking "neocon" move by Mccain

Mccain basically flipped NATO and Europe the finger in Bush-style cowboy talk, effectively saying that if any individual nation isn't 100% kissing his butt publicly, then he wont even talk to them.

This is a fairly dramatic signal, even for Mccain.

[groovedaddy]

7. Doesn't Spain share a border with Pakistan? ;-> n.t

[jillan]

8. Another friggin gaffe from McCain.