Okay, so John McCain has had a couple of foreign policy gaffes on the campaign trail, most notably his inability to remember the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and the fact that Czechoslovakia is no longer a country (and hasn’t been in over 15 years).

Sure, those aren’t the kind of mistakes you want your president to be making, but in the end they’re still just slip-ups.  McCain seemed confused again yesterday, when he refused in an interview to invite Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain to the White House if he were elected president.  Most analysts assumed that he had been unsure what the reporter was asking, didn’t know who Zapatero was, or mixed up Zapatero and the Zapatista rebels from Mexico.  But then the McCain campaign sent out an email early this morning saying that the snub was intentional.  A foreign policy adviser wrote, “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.”

The question now is whether McCain really meant to insult the government of a NATO ally or his campaign merely decided that confirming the snub was preferable to admitting that McCain doesn’t know anything about Spain.  If he had gotten confused during that interview, it might have been understandable.  The reporter from Radio Caracol, a Spanish-language station based in Miami, began the section on foreign policy by asking several questions about Latin America.  McCain used the opportunity to reiterate his unwillingness to meet with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and President Evo Morales of Bolivia, and he highlighted Barack Obama’s readiness to do so.  McCain also leveled criticism at Raul Castro, citing his poor record on human rights in Cuba.

The interviewer then turned her attention to Spain.  Here’s the transcript of the relevant section:

Interviewer:  Let’s talk about Spain.  If you are elected president, would you be willing to invite President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to the White House to meet with you?

McCain:  I would be willing to meet with those leaders who are friends and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion, and by the way President Calderon of Mexico is fighting a very tough fight against a drug cartel, and I am glad we are now working in cooperation with the Mexican government….  I intend to move forward with relations and invite as many of them as I can.

Interviewer:  Would that invitation be extended to the Zapatero government?  To the president himself?

McCain:  Honestly, I have to look at the relations and the situations and the priorities.  But I can assure you I will establish closer relations with our friends, and I will stand up to those who want to do harm to the United States of America.

Interviewer:  So you have to wait and see if he’s wiling to meet with you, or you would be able to do it?

McCain:  I have a clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us and standing up to those who are not.  And that’s judged by the importance of our relationship with Latin America.

Interviewer:  Okay, what about Europe?  I’m talking about the president of Spain.  Are you willing to meet with him if you are elected president?

McCain:  I’m willing to meet with any leader who is dedicated to the same principles and philosophy that we are for human rights, democracy and freedom, and I will stand up to those who are not.

At first he seems to think the reporter is still discussing Latin America, and then he seems unsure what the question is, so he continues to repeat his talking point.  But if McCain really did intend to snub Zapatero, it would have been because the prime minister withdrew the 1,300 Spanish troops from Iraq in April 2004 over the protests of the US government.  Zapatero has on a number of occasions voiced his opposition to the war, arguing that it violated international law.  Back in 2005, Zapatero also had friendly relations with Chavez and Morales, but that changed in 2007, when Chavez reportedly called Zapatero’s predecessor, Aznar, a fascist at the 2007 Ibero-American Summit.  Zapatero attempted to defend Aznar when it was his turn to speak, but Chavez kept interrupting him.  Though Zapatero remained patient, King Juan Carlos of Spain lashed out at Chavez, yelling, “Why don’t you just shut up?”  Spanish relations with Chavez cooled following the incident, and Zapatero has since focused most of his energy in office on advancing the European Union.  He has also sent additional troops to the NATO mission in Afghanistan and the UN mission in Haiti to show his support for multilateral initiatives.

The interview was a confusing exchange, so listen for yourself.  Here’s an audio clip of the relevant section, and here is the recording of the entire interview.  Then decide which is worse, if McCain doesn’t know who the leader of Spain is, or if his foreign policy plan is to only have friendly relations with governments that support the Iraq war.  If it’s the latter, American voters should know that our list of allies under a potential McCain administration will be pretty short.  (Here’s a good Wikipedia article showing the nations with troops still in Iraq, the nations that have withdrawn their troops, and the relevant numbers.)