Maybe McCain isn't just lying - he's Senile

Age related senility (and maybe even the beginnings of dementia) is much harder for people to connect with, but perhaps that is what's really going on with John McCain (although it's clear the rest of his campaign is being built on lies). If this continues, he should step aside, and retire from public service. It certainly deserves scrutiny considering his age and the strain of the campaign and the office he's looking to hold.

It's noticeable that he's turned his campaign completely over to his handlers. You see him reading his speeches from notes and stumbling as if he's not familiar with what he's reading. He's obviously been speaking from notes even during 'town hall' meetings. Even commentators and supporters have noted that 'this is not the John McCain we know' when discussing his recent ads and campaign tactics.

When questioned about his own campaign talking points, he can't even respond accurately. During his recent interview on "The View" he insisted that Gov. Palin hadn't taken ANY earmarks as governor. It has been widely acknowledged (even by the McCain campaign) that she has gotten some earmarks, but they are less than the previous year. Given the opportunity to correct his statement, and even with direct coaching from his interviewer, he continued to insist emphatically that she had taken NO earmarks. It's easy to jump on it as simply lying, but I think something much more serious is going on. Responses like this make no sense. There's no point on being so obviously wrong, and fumble opportunities to correct so badly, especially for a politician who has such a long career.

That example follows the famous press conference in Iraq, when he 'mis-spoke' about Iran's involvement with Al-Qaeda and was corrected by Joe Lieberman. Clearly not as bad a slip then, but that was awhile ago, and I think he's getting worse.

Now we have another example, and in this case he seems even more disoriented then before. John McCain recently gave an interview with Spain's El Pais newspaper in which he appears to get confused and doesn't respond as you would expect. Keep in mind, this was an arranged scheduled interview for which he certainly would have been prepped by his campaign. It's an audio, he was interviewed in English, but with a Spanish translator speaking over the top. If you speak Spanish you can confirm for yourself. There is the link below for the entire interview, or go to John's post, where he has a link to an audio clip of just the part relevant to this particular question. It is near the end of the interview.

Here's a post from John Aravosis on Americablog.com

Per a post on Josh Marshall's site, I just listened to an interview John McCain did with a Spanish journalist recently. The interview is in English, but there's a Spanish translator translating the tape into Spanish at the same time. So the English part is difficult to hear. I am however fluent in Spanish, and what Josh reports is exactly what the Spanish version shows.

Namely, that John McCain didn't appear to know that Spain was in Europe, or that the leader of Spain was named Zapatero, even after he was told that Zapatero was the leader of Spain.

When asked about Spain and Zapatero, by a Spanish reporter for a Spanish newspaper, McCain responded about Mexico and Latin America. A reader suggested something that Josh had already considered, that perhaps McCain thought the reporter was talking about the Zapatistas in Mexico, the guerilla group. But that's not possible as the reporter clearly said she was talking about Spain and Spain's leader, Zapatero. She told McCain this twice. Let me tell you exactly what she asked McCain (per the translation):

"Senator, finally, let's talk about Spain. If you're elected president, would you invite President Zapatero to meet with you in the White House?"

McCain then gives this odd answer about America's friends and America's enemies. He also, oddly, talks about Mexico (why Mexico? The question was about Spain) and how he'd invite friendly leaders to the White House. She then asks him again, would that invitation include President Zapatero? He says again that he'd have to review relations first, blah blah. She then says again, "so you'd have to wait to see, so would you meet with him in the White House?" He again repeats his weird statement about friends and enemies. McCain also throws in, oddly, to the Spanish reporter, when she's asking him about meeting the Spanish president, a line about the importance of our relationship with Latin America (this is now the second time he answered a question about meeting the president of Spain with an answer about Latin America). She then says to McCain one last time:

"Okay, but I'm talking about Europe - the president of Spain, would you meet with him?"

This time, there was no room for confusion. McCain then gives this very bizarre answer:

"I will meet with any leader who has the same principles and philosophy as us in terms of human rights, democracy, and freedom and I will stand up to those who do not."

What does concern about human rights, democracy and freedom have to do with a prerequisite for meeting the president of Spain? Especially when you told the same paper 5 months ago that you'd be happy to meet with him.

McCain had no idea what was going on in the interview. She specifically told him, twice, that she was talking about Spain and the Spanish president. She's a Spanish reporter with one of the largest, if not the largest, newspaper in Spain, El Pais. I know this paper, McCain certainly knows this paper (and it's not like McCain's staff didn't tell him who he had the exclusive interview with for ten minutes). She made it clear she was asking about her own country and her own president and McCain had no clue what she was talking about.

Either McCain had no idea what the woman was talking about when she said "Spain," and then said "the President of Spain," repeatedly, or McCain intentionally snubbed the country of Spain tonight for no apparent reason, which is very hard to believe, especially given his earlier interview in which he said he was fine meeting Zapatero. The interview is absolutely bizarre, especially in that it sounds like McCain wasn't even lucid, it sounds like he simply doesn't have complete control over his faculties anymore. And judging by the fact that just a few months ago McCain was fine with Zapatero, it sounds like McCain simply wasn't quite all there any more during the interview. He got horribly confused and didn't know what was going on.

This is just incredibly disturbing. And remember, this is hardly the first time in the last year that McCain has become confused about his signature issue, foreign affairs. It's happened a lot in the past year, and it never happened before. There's a pattern here, even if in polite company the media isn't supposed to talk about. McCain is having trouble focusing and understanding what's going on around him. He gets increasingly confused. And that's just scary.