The thing you have to understand is that, in America, 'zapatero' is a word we use to refer to everything opposed to the American worker

Paul Campos has me a little worried:

With something close to evident exasperation, the interviewer says, "Yes Senator, but now we are speaking of Europe, not Latin America" (it's clear she's getting the impression that McCain doesn't know where Spain is). But McCain repeats the same answer a fourth time! The interviewer gives up and the interview ends.

It seems, from the bits of his voice you can hear behind the translation, that McCain is tired and confused, and perhaps he simply doesn't know who Zapatero is, and is afraid of making a "gaffe," where he unwittingly agrees to meet with some crazy leftist dictator of an obscure banana republic. Or maybe "Zapatero" sounded suspiciously like "Zapatista" to him. |LGM|

The suggestion at the end maps on to my working theory. Hell, I half expected McCain to rear back and snap, "HIS NAME is Subcomandante Marcos!"

The real issue here isn't the factual error, or even the international incident, but is rather the way that McCain brought it all on himself by losing touch with what was going on around him. This wasn't a senior moment and the stress of the campaign did not bring on a NAFTA flashback. What happened was that McCain made a quick, erroneous, judgment and stubbornly refused to reconsider it.

The interviewer said "Zapatero" and McCain hear "Zapatista." Perfectly understandable. Ask me five questions about leftist Latin American leaders, drop "Zapatero" on me, and my brain might well decide that the Latin American associations win and spit out "Zapatista."

The rubber hits the road when the correction comes. Rather than being open to the reporter's attempted clarification, McCain sticks with his gut and repeats his answer. As the reporter tries twice more to get McCain back on track, he quickly becomes irritable and impatient. As far as he's concerned, the subject is closed and it's time to move on.