[Caipirabob]

"Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies,

Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain"

[xJones]

I don't get it. This is from a Framingham MA rag, home state of John Kerry?!

There's a lot more things this yahoo should be worried about such as Ketchup Kerry being elected president so we can emulate the Spanish.

[BikerNYC]

Yes, the Spanish may have also resented that their government first tried to blame its Basque separatists for the bombings.

Yes, I think this was a major factor. What were the Spanish to do? Vote for a government they didn't want just to send a message to the terrorists? Wouldn't that, too, be letting the terrorists control the outcome of the election?

[Smokin' Joe]

Someone gets it. Has anyone considered that the socialists and Al Qaida may be working together on this? Both would like to destroy "the great satan". Either would use an ally of convenience.

People need to be reminded that they attacked us, here in our country, and stopping the war elsewhere won't stop them from coming here and attacking us again.

By caving, the Spanish have set the US up for a round of pre-election terror events, in order to show how 'ineffective' the war has been.

The dems and dem-sympathetic press would jump on this in a heartbeat.

Although such acts would have the desperation of the Tet Offensive, the propaganda potential for the election (the joint dem/Al Qaida goal of defeating GWB) is immense. Just as Tet caused a shift in policy in the US, (even though the Viet Cong were pretty much eliminated as a fighting force--NVA were the main combatants afterward), The propaganda victory, aided and amplified by the US press, eventually cost 1.5 million South Vietnamese their lives.

In this case, however, we would not be able to hand the fight off to the indigenous residents, 'cause they are us.

[alloysteel]

Hold your fire a little on the Spaniards, they were "rope-a-doped". It was really a very slight shift in the vote totals that showed a momentary lack of confidence in the Popular Party and gave the margin to the Socialist Party. Had the election been a week earlier, or even a week later, the minority Socialists, governing from a plurality augmented by a coalition with smaller minority representatives, could not have named the new Socialist prime minister. As it was, the Socialists could only claim 43% of the vote, just that this total was larger than the Popular Party.

The Popular Party Prime Minister erred in claiming too quickly the bombing was the work of ETA and the Basque separatists, one of the constituencies of the Socialist party. Then it became a national political issue. Only after people had gone to the polls did the truth emerge that the Basque separatists had little to do with the bombing directly.

I don't know if there is provision for it in the Spanish parliamentary system, but there should be a call for a vote of "no confidence" on some issue in the near future, preferably having nothing to do with stationing troops in Iraq. Something the Socialists would have a lot of trouble 'splaining. Maybe a big strike by an emboldened ETA.

[Milligan]

Someone in FR had an interesting point of view. During WWII, Spain was neutral. Why spend money and resources when other countries will do the job for you.

[Arpege92]

"Prime Minister -elect Zapatero has just urged Americans to dump President Bush in favor of Senator Kerry."

Can you imagine President Bush urging the Spaniards not to vote for Zapatero? It would be an outrage....so how come it's okay for this jerk to tell us who we should vote for?