I recommend listening to the interview, as this is an important story. Personally, I think McCain heard the question, and that he was uncomfortable answering it because he had not reviewed his canned comments beforehand. I think McCain tried to "talk past" the question, by giving more of his canned comments (prepackaged by Randy Scheunemann and other neocon advisers) about Latin America, promoting "democracy (!), etc. McCain probably hoped the interviewer would not persist, and he must have died when she made it totally clear she wanted to hear what McCain had to say about Spain and its prime minister.

Mr. Stein carefully describes a somewhat bizarre series of exchanges between McCain and a Spanish interviewer. He then fairly analyzes the two most likely explanations for the political boilerplate McCain ultimately offered. Is this another stunning mistake exposing McCain's questionable knowledge of foreign policy issues and players, or a new and confrontational attitude toward a NATO ally, or both, or a mistake McCain was too belligerent and proud to admit? Mr. Stein wisely lets the reader decide.

A fairly objective article about another McCainism. McCain has been relentlessly pounding Obama about his being such a complete greenhorn about foreign policy that Obama is unfit to be president. And this from a guy who doesn't even know who the Hell the president of Spain is? It gets worse: Randy Sheuemann, McCain’s foreign policy adviser, unwilling to admit McCain made a huge mistake, explained it away by saying it wasn’t a gaffe, but was actually a deliberate statement about policy toward Spain. Had this been Obama's SNAFU, the media would be covering it 24/7 with screamers. Has anyone covered Spain’s reaction? That ought to be a doozy.