The conservative newspaper ABC, no close friend of Obama, opens its coverage with this admonition (and bear with my less-than-eloquent translation):

The cool relations between the governments of the United States and Spain might continue if the Republican candidate John McCain wins the White House this November 4th, after he yesterday three times avoided answering whether he would receive José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in Washington once elected.

Other papers, including El Periódico, expressed disbelief at McCain’s apparent ignorance of the fact that Spain is not, in fact, in Latin America.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, be sure to give this a listen. It’s from an English-language interview with the Spanish-language Radio Caracol WSUA 1260AM in Miami. The interview was conducted on Tuesday, but the news didn’t hit the blogs until late last night and this morning. It’s one of the more astounding slip-ups of the campaign:

And a side note: The Spanish press coverage of the American presidential campaign is surprisingly vast and detailed. Just this morning, La Vanguardia’s website had nine pieces on the campaign, and it’s introduced terms like “hockey mom” to the Spanish public, for better or worse.