Scheunemann: McCain was not confused, he simply refuses to meet with Spanish Prime Minister.
Scheunemann: McCain was not confused, he simply refuses to meet with Spanish Prime Minister.
John McCain’s foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann is defending his boss’s inexplicable and illogical answer in response to a question about whether he would agree to meet with the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. McCain appeared not to know that Zapatero is the leader of Spain when answering the question from an interviewer earlier this week. Listen here:
In a letter to the Washington Post, Scheunemann claims McCain knew who Zapatero was and was simply articulating his policy of refusing to commit to “a White House meeting with President Zapatero.” Yglesias writes that this is “an insane policy,” given our treaty-bound obligations under NATO. Moreover, Scheunemann misidentifies Zapatero as Spain’s President, rather than Prime Minister.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
.
Johnny’s McConfused???
…. tell us something we don’t know.
.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:50 amAhh, a great day for American diplomacy.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:51 amAnd we might put this clown show in the White House as a follow on to Cheney-Bush’s flea circus?
September 18th, 2008 at 11:52 amSunni – Shiaa what’s the big diff?
They’re all brown skins from over there anyway!
September 18th, 2008 at 11:52 amCome on trolls…let’s hear it!
September 18th, 2008 at 11:53 amDOH! Grandpa is confused. Has no idea what the poor woman is talking about. Jumped the rails early on and never recovered. Not exactly sure what this means – and Randy S. should not even be weighing in on this piffle. But glad he is clouding the waters even more.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:54 amRandy might not know where Spain is but he knows he doesn’t like their Primne Minister. And he will put the words into his canidate’s mouth. Or sell them to him.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:55 ammaybe sarah can help him
understand what our nato
obligations are.
*
September 18th, 2008 at 11:55 amDumb question here — if McCain “simply refuses to meet” with the Spanish prime minister, why didn’t he just say so? And give a reason why?
I know that McCain doesn’t speak for the McCain campaign, but this little dance of hemming and hawing and saying something vague only to have an interpretation of it released by the campaign later is getting old.
Is it asking too much to have a president who can make sense without a spin factory?
September 18th, 2008 at 11:55 amI wonder if the McCain Campaign has staff set aside who, after McCain says something incredibly stupid, then go out and try to justify what McCain said by saying something even more incredibly stupid?
September 18th, 2008 at 11:56 amSo now I see the difference between the Bush Administration and the McCain Administration.
The Bush Administration fixed the facts around the policy.
The McCain Administration will fix the policy around the gaffes.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:56 amRandy Scheunemann then went on to say that maybe if Spain were to hire his lobbying firm he may be able to squeeze a meeting with Zapatero into McCain’s schedule (nudge-nudge)
September 18th, 2008 at 11:56 amWhat? McCain can’t make his own clarifications to his own idiotic foreign policy?
September 18th, 2008 at 11:58 amAnd god, we must look like total jerks to Spain for even having McCain this far in the process. They’d be correct.
Is it ageist to call McStain a befuddled old fool who is ready for the glue factory? It is?
Tough shiite. The future of my nation is at stake.
Can’t wait to see today’s polls. And tomorrow’s. And the next day’s.
PEACE
September 18th, 2008 at 11:58 amThis is a colossal blunder from McBeavis. How in the world can anyone support this boob’s candidacy? Boobs for boobs I guess.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:58 amObama: “you can’t make this stuff up”
September 18th, 2008 at 11:59 amraynman Says:
I wonder if the McCain Campaign has staff set aside who, after McCain says something incredibly stupid, then go out and try to justify what McCain said by saying something even more incredibly stupid?
Yes, and they carry a copy of the “McStain English-English Translation Dictionary”.
PEACE
September 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm.
Come on people, cut the Senator some slack here.
After all, Johnny McCain’t see Spain from his backyard.
.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pmEven after she said Spain the old coot couldn’t wrap his brain around it. I still say McCain started out stupid and his age just exacerbates the problem.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pmScheunemann is of the same neo-clown mindset that believed invading and occupying a certain mid-east oil-producing country was just a dandy idea and that America would be greeted as liberators in doing so. So it’s no surprise that he has his head up his a$$ when it comes to being functionally knowledgeable about any other country as well.
You gotta admit though, McCain sure has shown unblinking consistency in picking know-nothing losers (Gramm, Fiorina, Scheunemann, Palin, etc.) to carry his decrepit carcass into the White House.
Just saying . . .
September 18th, 2008 at 12:03 pmmisshusseinmolly said:
I know that McCain doesn’t speak for the McCain campaign, but
Insta-classic! Thanks for the laugh.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:04 pmGreat. Uncle Nutzi’s handlers want to take us back to the days of complaining about “old Europe”. Invoking a Donald Rumsfeld attitude is a sure way of swinging votes.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:04 pmScheunemann: McCain was not confused, he simply refuses to meet with Spanish Prime Minister.
And we’re all worried about Palin lacking foreign diplomatic experience …………..?
McDepends makes Kim John-il look like Churchill reincarnated
September 18th, 2008 at 12:05 pmMy friends, have I mentioned that I was a POW for five years and that we didn’t have maps. We didn’t have a table to put a map on. And I didn’t have my glasses so I couldn’t make out the names of the South American countries … what? Spain is in Europe? No way!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:06 pmLooks like McCain is drafting his Axis of Evil list a bit early. So far we have:
Spain
Russia
Czechoslovakia
Ottoman Empire
Did I miss any?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:06 pmLook for mccain to refuse to debate Obama citing that Obama would not meet him in a town hall meeting so he won’t debate on Obama’s terms.
The smartest think mccain could do is refuse to debate Obama but he may have to to stay in the game.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:06 pmIt’s begun already, they’re trying to put words in their puppet’s mouth. We should not have anyone running for this office who is not in full control of his faculties. How dangerous it would be to have another puppet like Bush in control again!
Why can’t the American people get it that we need someone who is HIGHLY EDUCATED to lead this country, not a poser mouthing words that someone else gave him to read in the hopes that he won’t totally screw things up when he’s spouting their inane policies?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pmHow is it that Randy Scheunemann manages to remain vertical?
If I spun about as he does, I would be flat on my ass in moments, wondering which way was up! Doesn’t he ever tire of spouting phrases like’…what [he] [she] said was, what [they] meant was, no: you don’t understand what [he] [she] said…’
Between the lies, the ‘clever’ misrepresentations, incomplete claims and obvious distortions, it’s become difficult to find a consistent set of messages issued by this campaign. It used to be a contravening statement weeks or just days down the road, then hours, then minutes…
Now, it seems that at least some conflicting messages are delivered simultaneously by either or both of the candidates, or by their spokespersons and surrogates. [Say, where's Carly?] Sometimes, by a single party, in the same breath.
This would all be rather hysterically funny where it were not for the fact that so much—including potentially tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars—were at stake.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pmThe McDepends and Sarahcuda team would finish last in “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” program …….. when playing against 2nd Graders!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:09 pmA day after the SPIC incident, McCain gives another one-fingered salute to Hispanic voters.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:09 pmhussein toasterhead Says:
——————————————————————————–
Looks like McCain is drafting his Axis of Evil list a bit early. So far we have:
Spain
Russia
Czechoslovakia
Ottoman Empire
Did I miss any?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
The Iraq/Pakistan border …………….
September 18th, 2008 at 12:09 pmExcellent point, missmolly.
Let’s say we take Randy Scheuneman at his word: McSame refuses to confirm tat he would meet with the Spanish prime minister.
WHY?
Is McSame accusing Spain of being a state sponsor of terror? Maybe even the newest member of the Axis of Evil™?
What possible reason could be given for McSame’s bizarre position on this issue, unless it is because the alternative (that McSame was confused about the question) is much, much worse for his presidential prospects?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:10 pmMcCain, on the other hand, scares me. He seems to think that it’s a good idea to go around threatening, or thumbing his nose at, world leaders.
Did you all hear about the rally planned for next week? Palin will attend a protest against Iran outside the UN on Monday (sponsored by several leading American Jewish organizations).
Could she even find Iran on a map? I mean, c’mon. I can’t wait to hear her try to pronounce the president of Iran’s name.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:12 pmScary–if he gets the reports on Iran’s program for nuclear enrichment will he understand that the amount of enrichment that they are doing is not high enough to make a bomb? Or will another of his senior gaffes pave the way for the sheeple of this country to think that this is another imminent threat that needs to be taken down like Iraq?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:13 pmRepublicans tell me that I don’t know things they know and that is why I don’t understand how important it was to invade Iraq……yeah, right.
I think you are right my friendly cud chewer. His gaffe is more easily explained away by saying “we know things you don’t know about Spain”
September 18th, 2008 at 12:13 pmWhich country is next for the sh *t list for Keating Five McCain? France, Mexico…Canada?
The guy is wacked – possibly with dementia.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:14 pmOT, but Palin is speaking at a town hall on MSNBC, and she just refered to a “Palin/McCain” administration.
Freud much, Princess?
And BTW, Todd is there, too. If you don’t mind my asking, who’s minding the children?
PEACE
September 18th, 2008 at 12:15 pmWhy in the hell are their excuses always worst than the original question? McCain cannot seem to keep his foot out of his mouth. Then the McCain Capaign comes to try to clean up after him by trying to stuff the other foot in there with the first foot.
Geez. Don’t they know the rules. If you are going to make excuses and lies to cover up a gaff, make sure the excuse does not sound worst than the original goofup!!!!
Kind of like the Troopergate firing, the latest excuse the McCain camp is giving is they fired him for asking for money to fight rape. And Alaska has the highest statistics for rape per capita of any other state.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:16 pmShe should have stuck with the allusion that she was somehow trying to protect her sister from the big bad policeman somehow, sheesh.
I wonder if she will condemn the Iranian Arab nation.
Can’t wait till someone points out that Iranian’s aren’t an Arab nation….nother gaffe waiting in the wings.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:16 pmspencers mom Says:
——————————————————————————–
And BTW, Todd is there, too. If you don’t mind my asking, who’s minding the children?
PEACE
September 18th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Mark Foley is babysitting …………
September 18th, 2008 at 12:17 pmhussein toasterhead Says:
Looks like McCain is drafting his Axis of Evil list a bit early. So far we have:
Spain
Russia
Czechoslovakia
Ottoman Empire
Did I miss any?
Persia and Siam.
PEACE
September 18th, 2008 at 12:17 pmTweedster Says:
Come on trolls…let’s hear it!
*
well backup isn’t here but his comment
would probably go something like this:
“I was making the point that over selling the McCain/Palin foreign policy mistakes could/would backfire. Progressives should back off or seriously risk alienating the voters.”
he’s so concerned.
:)
September 18th, 2008 at 12:18 pmWayne Says:
——————————————————————————–
Why in the hell are their excuses always worst than the original question?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
It’s what happens when all you have are lies and bubbleheads spewing them …………..
September 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pmObama: “you can’t make this stuff up”
September 18th, 2008 at 12:20 pmspencers mom Says:
…and she just refered to a “Palin/McCain” administration.
The way McHoover hides behind her skirt, that’s pretty much the ticket.
I’m really starting to sense that her novelty is wearing off.
¶ AIO
September 18th, 2008 at 12:21 pmSo, he won’t commit to a ‘White House meeting’ with the President of Spain. ‘No formal reception for you!’
Okay, how about tostadas at the compound in Sedona? Or will he be simply too busy clearing cholla and saguaro?
Say, I’ve got an idea: let’s retire the guy, and ship him off to the Airpark at Marana, where he can comfortably coexist with other relics of the cold war era, living out his days literally among the ‘plane wrecks’ stored there. You know, instead of engineering the coming ‘plane wreck’ we seem headed for as a nation.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pmjoe cantwell Says:
good one on backup. He would tell us that we talked about recession until we finally made it happen.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pmWe know McCan’t could use a Video Professor dvd but how are they going to teach him about Latin American politics? The Rosetta Stone?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:26 pmspencers mom Says:
OT, but Palin is speaking at a town hall on MSNBC, and she just refered to a “Palin/McCain” administration.
LMAO!!!!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:28 pmI guess Palin will be joining Carly in the penalty box soon.
The Daily Show/ Colbert Report writers are probably enjoying this campaign where the jokes keep writing themselves.
“Scheunemann: McCain was not confused, he simply refuses to meet with Spanish Prime Minister.”
Of course, because we DON’T HAVE a Prime Minister.
It’s so hard understanding a different political system, with a PRESIDENT at top…
/Snark
September 18th, 2008 at 12:29 pmo/t but check out this quote from a story in today’s Globe & Mail (story’s entitled, “Fixing Wall Street … good luck with that“), which I believe is basically the Canadian equivalent of the Wall St. Journal:
‘Surely, this time, the citizens of Wall Street have learned their lesson. Surely, all this damage – 110,000 banking layoffs, the collapse of firms that have existed since the Cretaceous period, the evisceration of wealth – will cause them to see the error of their ways. Goodbye, red suspenders; hello, hair shirt.
And if it doesn’t, John McCain will make them see it. “And as president, I guarantee you, it will never happen again,” Sarah Palin’s running mate told CNBC the other day.’
Get that? They described McCain as “Sarah Palin’s running mate”!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:38 pm*Speaking of the town hall meeting*
An anti-McDepends/Caribou Barbie protestor was just ‘escorted’ from the building ; when do Obama and/or Biden have people physically removed from the premises when they’re speaking ?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:43 pmmary Says:
Could she even find Iran on a map? I mean, c’mon. I can’t wait to hear her try to pronounce the president of Iran’s name.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
______
She already tried it in the Charlie Gibson interview, and botched it quite predictably. She used the glottal KH sound for Ahmed instead of the correct aspirated H.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:45 pmOh, FSM help us!! The geezer’s LOOSE!!!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:48 pmI believe that I see what happened here.
Senator McCain, a longtime resident of the state of Arizona, simply was confused: apparently, he thought that the interviewer was referring not to the current President of Spain, but rather to General Emiliano Zapata, a key leader of the Mexican revolution and architect of the Zapatista guerrilla army and movement, and the Liberation Army of the South.
“Land, liberty, and justice.” Sounds like a rather progressive individual, and therefore an ‘enemy’ of America.
The revolution might be seen as a sort of the precursor to the ‘horde of brown people’ expected by conservatives to swarm across the border any day now, and reclaim their lost ‘Mexican territory’ in the American southwest. Viva Aztlá! Viva República del Norte! Or, something. It’s an easy mistake to make, I suppose, for those who seem to think that all of those ‘brown people’ think, act and sound alike.
Now, can I earn points [or something] for spinning crazy explanations like this on behalf of the McCain-Palin campaign? [Or, is it now the Palin-McCain campaign?] This seems at least as creative as anything Randy Scheunemann has sputtered to date, and appears far more plausible.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:49 pmI heard that the head gardener at one of the McMansions is a mexican immigrant named Fernando Zapatero. McCain was simply asserting that HE doesn’t talk to the help. That’s the trollup’s responsibility.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:12 pmWait a minute…I didn’t know that McCain was participating in Palin’s favorite game…”stump-the-candidate”
McCain scares me more than Bush if that is possible.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pmWhat did Spain do to get the wrath of(Mc)Cain????
Because Spain pulled out of Iraq???
What a spiteful SOB.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:54 pmIn one of the more bizarre developments of campaign 2008, John McCain’s campaign has announced that he won’t be rolling out the White House welcome mat for Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, president of America’s NATO ally Spain. But if McCain’s posture seems like an adolescent temper tantrum aimed at a critical member of Washington’s Atlantic alliance, it’s hardly an isolated episode. With his vitriolic Paris and Berlin-bashing in the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003, John McCain stood shoulder to shoulder with the France-hating purveyors of “freedom fries” and “old Europe.”
For the details, see:
September 18th, 2008 at 2:04 pm“Snub of Spain Just McCain’s Latest Europe Bashing.”
For what it is worth, and I live in Spain, it is customary here to use Prime Minister OR President. While in parliment, he is generally referred to as Mr. President. Now, here is a post I have made elsewhere. McCain obviously could not field the question on Spain as such, but….
September 18th, 2008 at 2:28 pm————————————————-
I am certainly not a supporter of McCain, quite the opposite, but if he does not want to meet with Zapatero of Spain, I agree with him wholeheartedly! I live in Spain, and have for many years. Zapatero is a liar, opportunist, knows less about economics than McCain, knows little about the outside world, and is ruining Spain. The man only won reelection with the help of the Communist party here in Spain. Even representatives in the European community avoided even sitting with the man during his few visits to Brussels. (The man continuously smiles, even at funerals!) Some of the programs he pushes in Spain border on the asinine. One typical example: he recently laid a tax on all electronic devices that are capable of reproducing music with the revenues to go to those poor artists whose discs are being copied illegally. Truth is, no one buys the trash those so called artists put out. The tax was simply to garner the vote of thousands of those “failed artists” and nothing more. I could go on, but this is just a sample of the man’s mentality! And, he folks are STILL waiting for the 400 Euros he promised each person if he was reelected. (So much for outright buying votes!) So, McCain, Obama, or any other US Government person should continue to shun this borderline idiot like the plague! The man makes Bush look like a genius!
VietnamVet Says:
September 18th, 2008 at 2:28 pm Recommend (0) | Report Abuse
No need to spam the exact same post in multiple threads, genius.
(Genius is ironic, BTW, if you don’t get it)
September 18th, 2008 at 3:06 pmFor Evil Spaniard:
How others post is none of your business. Different folks read different threads, in case you are unaware.
BTW, your English really needs some improvement, especially in the comprehension area! Some of what you say does not even make sense.
If you don’t agree with a post, state why, give some evidence, support what you are saying, and so on. Avoid ad hominem attacks…they get you nowhere. Take care now, OK.
September 18th, 2008 at 3:51 pmVietnamVet Says:
For Evil Spaniard:
How others post is none of your business. Different folks read different threads, in case you are unaware.
You mean people read only the posts of the threads they’re interested in? Curiously enough, both threads where you’ve posted (must I say pasted?) have the same topic, the declarations of McCain about Spain and our President.
BTW, your English really needs some improvement, especially in the comprehension area! Some of what you say does not even make sense.
I know I’m not very fluent in English, but you claim to be an expert in Spain, and you’ve not said a single word of Spain, besides some stereotypes you can be read at a short article in any English language online (and right wing) paper.
If you don’t agree with a post, state why, give some evidence, support what you are saying, and so on. Avoid ad hominem attacks…they get you nowhere. Take care now, OK.
September 18th, 2008 at 3:51 pm Recommend (0) | Report Abuse
Your very first post in the thread about the declarations of McCain relatives to Spain below this one was an Ad Hominem, so you don’t have any moral high ground over me.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:13 pmI think the point is that the old crackpot’s foreign policy is so insane that he’s refusing to meet with the head of a NATO state. Your feelings about the elected leader of Spain notwithstanding, he is the elected leader of a member of the NATO alliance. The old crackpot, as usual, doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:57 pm“Looks like McCain is drafting his Axis of Evil list a bit early. So far we have:
Spain
Russia
Czechoslovakia
Ottoman Empire
Did I miss any?”
Gaul
September 18th, 2008 at 5:18 pmSparta
Mordor
At best, this makes McCain look like a confused old man. At best!
September 18th, 2008 at 6:20 pmA serious Question:
Hispanics are only from the Americas right? I don’t believe that’s a correct way to talk about someone of Spanish extraction. They are white(ish) Europeans.
Mordor – Hilarious!
September 18th, 2008 at 6:37 pmCrazy Cat Lady Says:
——————————————————————————–
A serious Question:
Hispanics are only from the Americas right? I don’t believe that’s a correct way to talk about someone of Spanish extraction. They are white(ish) Europeans.
Mordor – Hilarious!
——————————
Hispanic can refer to someone from Latin America or Spain.
Latino/a – is usually used for someone specifically from Latin America or a Spanish-speaking area.
I think if a Spaniard had to choose between one of the two, he/she would use ‘hispano/a’, but usually they always use ‘espanol/espanola’
September 18th, 2008 at 6:41 pmSenility
September 20th, 2008 at 2:54 pm