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McCain Would Refuse To Meet With Leader Of NATO Ally Spain

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 11:56:00 AM EST
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This is outrageous from John "We Are All Georgians Now" McCain, in light of his, to put it charitably, confused response on Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero:

[W]as McCain purposely trying to diss the Spanish leader? Questions about whether McCain forgot which country Zapatero leads, got confused about Spain's geographic relationship to Latin America, or confused Zapatero with the Zapatista rebels from Mexico have exploded on blogs since reports of the interview first surfaced.

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McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Sheunemann said McCain's answer was intentional. "The questioner asked several times about Senator McCain's willingness to meet Zapatero (and id'd him in the question so there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred). Senator McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview," he said in an e-mail.

(Emphasis supplied.) Let me get this straight, McCain would risk war with Russia for the sake of an unhinged leader of Georgia, but he would not even meet with the leader of a longstanding US ally and member of NATO? This is grossly incompetent and irresponsible. This is more than a gaffe. This is a scandal. John McCain is unfit to be President.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

< McCain's Spain Gaffe: Spanish Press Abuzz | McCain Was For Meeting With Spanish Leader Before He Was Against It >

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    McCain Would Refuse To Meet With Leader Of NATO Ally Spain | 57 comments (57 topical)

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    This is a really good (5.00 / 2) (#5)
    by andgarden on Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 12:04:40 PM EST
    "attack his strength" story

    Randy Scheunemann (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by nalo on Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 12:07:53 PM EST
    Former lobbyist to  Georgia, explaining McCain to the Washington Post:

    "The questioner asked several times about Senator McCain's willingness to meet Zapatero (and id'd him in the question so there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred). Senator McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview," he said in an e-mail.

    "In this week's interview, Senator McCain did not rule in or rule out a White House meeting with President Zapatero, a NATO ally," he said in an e-mail. "If elected, he will meet with a wide range of allies in a wide variety of venues but is not going to spell out scheduling and meeting location specifics in advance. He also is not going to make reckless promises to meet America's adversaries. It's called keeping your options open, unlike Senator Obama, who has publicly committed to meeting some of the world's worst dictators unconditionally in his first year in office."

    Completely ridiculous spin.  Agreeing to meet with a NATO ally in Washington DC will somehow compromise national security??

    Think of it this way.... (5.00 / 2) (#27)
    by kdog on Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 01:33:41 PM EST
    if McCain is elected, he is obligated by treaty to defend the borders of Spain with American blood, if necessary.  

    But he is unwilling to commit to meeting with the elected leader of Spain?

    American blood...no problem.  Cup of coffee at the White House...lemme think about it.

    ???

    Political relations (3.66 / 3) (#20)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 12:45:32 PM EST
    with Spain have been chilly for some time now, for obvious reasons as has been stated up-thread.

    If the explanations of McCain's people are correct I really don't get the outrage with this.

    "In this week's interview, Senator McCain did not rule in or rule out a White House meeting with President Zapatero, a NATO ally," he said in an e-mail. "If elected, he will meet with a wide range of allies in a wide variety of venues but is not going to spell out scheduling and meeting location specifics in advance."

    He doesn't say he "Would Refuse To Meet With Leader Of NATO Ally Spain," as some have alleged here - despite that position being a continuation of current and existing US policy toward Zapatero - he's saying he won't commit to it at this time.

    iow, "You cheated on me. You gotta send me some flowers, or something, anyway, before we go ahead and sleep together again."

    And, yes, invites to the WH are the political equivalent, or close enough anyway, to "sleeping together."

    International politics ain't the same as inviting the ahole next-door neighbor over for beer and brats in an attempt to clear the air, as much as we average Joes think it should be...

    Heh (none / 0) (#21)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 12:49:36 PM EST
    Perhaps you can explain the flip flop.

    Keep digging.

    Parent

    Nope, that's inexplicable to me. (none / 0) (#24)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 01:01:00 PM EST
    Such is life.

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    No "President" (none / 0) (#37)
    by MKS on Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 02:19:32 PM EST
    Spain has a monarch--brought back after Franco died.  So, there is no President but a Prime Minister.  That the McCain camp would get the title wrong in a supposedly thought-out written statement shows incompetence.

    That McCain would botch an answer on Spain's current government is interesting....He has said that his favorite novel is Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, whose protagonist (who McCain says he idolizes) was American Robert Jordan who fought on the losing side of the Spanish Civil War for the anti-Fascists....who were defeated by Franco.

    McCain thought the Prime Minister of Spain was another left winger friend of Hugo Chavez from South America-instead the head of a NATO ally.  McCain is losing it....

    Parent

    Heh (5.00 / 0) (#39)
    by Steve M on Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 02:24:08 PM EST
    Maybe they would all prefer to meet with the King of Spain instead, after what he famously said to Chavez.

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    A