It's not that surprising that Randy Scheunemann would come up with that lame excuse for McCain's comments on the Prime Minister of Spain. They don't want anyone to think that McCain might get easily confused. It's much worse if it looks like he's a doddering old fool.

The funny thing is that after listening to the interview, I actually felt a little bad for McCain. It's very clear that McCain was having trouble understanding the comments of his interviewer. The first time she mentions Spain it is said very quickly and she immediately follows up by naming Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. I have a feeling that McCain heard the name Jose Luis Rodriguez and couldn't place it so he tried his standard friends and enemies routine. Later, the interviewer repeats the Zapatero government line but doesn't mention Spain so McCain is still confused by what she's talking about. His confusion is evident since he continues to talk about Latin America.

Finally the interviewer specifically refers to the fact that she is asking about Europe. Only if you actually listen to the way she asks it, she says Europe so quickly, it sounds like she is asking "What about you? I'm talking about the president of Spain". Now McCain is totally lost. He hears the first part of the question and is confused. He responds directly to "What about you" by saying "What about me, what?".  He's completely lost the plot.

Was this interview conducted over the phone? I assume that it was. I think it's clear that McCain had trouble hearing some of what was being asked. He really should have indicated that he was having trouble hearing the questions rather than press on with his obviously confused answers. I think if he had, this whole thing would have been a non-story. He could still have avoided things by indicating after the fact that he was having trouble hearing the questions.

That said, any sympathy I might have had evaporated after Randy Scheunemann's pathetic attempt at justification.