Bringing the Pain to Spain

Earlier today, Sen. John McCain appeared to say that he was refusinga meeting with Spain's President Zapatero. Many assumed McCain was making a mistake and thought Zapatero was some Latin American autocrat, not the President of a major European democracy, fellow member of NATO, founding member of the EU, and major trading partner.

Later today, a McCain spokesperson made it plain that no mistake was made. McCain in fact meant to insult the Spanish President largely because he withdrew his troops from Iraq.

At this point, one does not know if Sen. McCain would honestly stand by his comment, or whether it was just an attempt to inflate his stock with the right wing of his party who dislike most thing European and strongly dislike anyone who didn't play ball on Iraq.

Either way, this is no way to rebuild our nation's image. Furthermore, it just seems childish and petulant to punish Spain because they would no longer aid us in committing a humanitarian atrocity. Is this the vaunted foreign policy experience at work? Is this the type of relationship we want with European democracies particularly given the specter of a hostile Russia?

Who is this guy?