Posted on 11/11/2004 7:55:34 PM PST by aculeus
The Spanish Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, yesterday faced a barrage of derision over his government's anti-Americanism following a snub by President George W Bush.
Mr Zapatero was one of the first premiers to send a congratulatory telegram to Mr Bush after his election victory last week.
But, in what was a stinging confirmation of the poor state of relations between Washington and Madrid, he has yet to receive a reply.
Mr Zapatero had also telephoned Mr Bush before the election result was made official but was not put through to the president.
Spain's newspaper columnists, the opposition People's Party and satirists have made much of the silence between Washington and Madrid.
Mr Zapatero wrote himself firmly into the White House's black books by accusing Mr Bush and Tony Blair of lying over the reasons for going to war with Iraq.
In the summer he immediately honoured an election pledge to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.
He then backed John Kerry in the presidential election and cancelled a standing invitation for US forces to participate in Spain's annual military parade.
Anti-war policies may be popular with the public, but even supportive sections of the media have said that the prime minister's anti-American stance had gone too far.
Most sectors of the Spanish press concluded that the telephone spat was "infantile" but that Mr Zapatero needed to act fast to recover Spain's loss of face abroad.
A columnist for the conservative newspaper ABC, stated bluntly: "Zapatero has put his foot in all of our arses".
White House officials denied there had been a snub and said that Mr Bush had not yet had time to contact Mr Zapatero as he was working his way through a list of calls.
However Mr Bush has already spoken to the French president, Jacques Chirac, and German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, the main critics of the Iraq war.
And to rub Mr Zapatero's nose in the transatlantic mess further, Mr Bush has invited King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia to a supper during their visit later this month.
US diplomatic sources quoted in the newspaper La Vanguardia said the king will serve as a bridge toward restoring dialogue between the two governments.
Quinn:
what percentage of the population is MOOOOslim, and what impact do they presently have on politics?
Punks.
This communist POS chose unwisely. Suffer sucker!
Tuff Tukkus!
They need to run those turds out of office. Until they gain some b@lls and take control of the communists in their midst, they'll get absolutely NO respect from me.
THIS FReeper will welcome Spain back with open arms; ONCE they kick that communist POS out of office. Until then, Spain will get what it deserves.
Senator Specter....Arlen baby.....pick up the phone.....hello......anyone home...?
"and Don't pee on my shoe and tell me it's raining."
What do you think the socialist percentage is in the next U.S. generation? "Only" 60-70%?
Agreed. Just look at the Dutch backlash to the Islamofascist murder of Van Gogh. The politicians are backpedaling from appeasement in order to maintain power.
I got a Swedish absentee ballot for the election of European Parlament. Believe it or not, the information is translated from Swedish to the following languages: Bosnian, Croats, Serbian, English, Estonia, Finnish, French, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Somalia, Spanish, Turkish, German, Hungarian, Russian, Kurdish, Persian, Arabian, wow!!!
Sheesh people... AZNAR WAS NOT RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION!
You know, this article is so funny! I love Bush when he does stuff like this!
The thing is, Spain is a sovereign nation with an elected leader. They have the right to make their own decision about this war.
However, they also have to learn there are consequences to all decisions. Zapatera is being taught that lesson!
In the summer he immediately honoured an election pledge to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.
He then backed John Kerry in the presidential election and cancelled a standing invitation for US forces to participate in Spain's annual military parade.
Oops.
Have a nice day, Zappy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.