McCain on Spain (or Latin America...Whichever It Is...)

The Republican candidate for the White House, John McCain, in an exclusive interview with representatives from CADENA SER, Spain’s number one radio station, on Union Radio, successfully confused his listeners when he failed to communicate clearly on whether he would meet with Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to address issues like the economy, immigration, and independent energy resources.

In response to this question, McCain replied, “I would meet with whatever leader that holds the same principles and philosophy that we, the United States, and I hold in order to stand up to leaders who oppose democracy,” and cited Felipe Calderon of Mexico as an example of a leader he would invite to the White House.

When the reporter pursued the issue of Spain’s PM Zapatero, McCain repeated his initial idea of “meeting with friends [to] stand up to enemies,” confusing Latin America with Spain by saying these kinds of alliances “underlie the base of the importance of our relations with Latin America.”

The interviewer reminded him, "But we are speaking of Europe..." McCain replied again, "I will meet with our friends, and stand up to our enemies."

Throughout this interview, it's clear that John McCain was confused about several things.

First, he didn't seem to know who Zapatero is and which country he governs, even when the interviewer prefaced her question about him with "Speaking of Spain."

Second, he seemed to believe that Spain is in Latin America.

And third, even after being corrected on the first two points, he still seemed uncertain whether Spain, a democratic country and a member of the European Union, is an ally or an enemy of the United States.

If you are fluent in Spanish, the entire interview is available in audio recording on Cadena Ser’s website: http://www.cadenaser.com/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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