The Rain in Spain. . .

. . . falls mainly on McCain. A very strange story coming from the campaign trail last night. From all appearances, it seems that John McCain made an odd gaffe that reinforces the impression that the Arizona Senator is somewhat confused about world geography and geopolitical leaders (Pakistani borders, Sunni vs. Shia). From Sam Stein:

Late Wednesday night, news made its way from the other side of the Atlantic that John McCain, in an interview with a Spanish outlet, had made a series of bizarre responses to a question regarding that country's prime minister.

"Would you be willing to meet the head of our government, Mr. Zapatero?" the questioner asked, in an exchange now being reported by several Spanish outlets.

McCain proceeded to launch into what appeared to be a boilerplate declaration about Mexico and Latin America--not Spain--pressing the need to stand up to world leaders who want to harm America.

Shades of Dan Quayle, who famously observed that people in Latin America don't speak Latin. Who knew?

I know there are skeptics out there who are thinking: if the media are out to get McCain, and Europe is out to get McCain, then how on earth can we trust a story coming out of the foreign media?

Well, as they say in the business, we report, you decide.

For those of you who read Spanish, here's El Pais' (the largest Spanish daily) version of events. And here's a translation of their article. Time magazine also has the story. But more importantly, here's a link to the audio of the interview with McCain that makes clear he has no clue who the Prime Minister of Spain is, or where that country is located on a map.