OxBlog

Thursday, March 18, 2004

# Posted 5:29 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

RUDE: Spain's Prime Minister-elect has bluntly stated that he wants John Kerry to win in November. I'm sort of suprised, since just yesterday I told Steve Sturm that the Bush administration will not voice its dissatisfaction with the results of Spain's recent election since doing so would be a gross violation of diplomatic protocol.

Moreover, such offensive statements tend to have the exact opposite of the intended effect, since voters don't want to be told by foreign politicians -- especially American presidents -- whom they should vote for. Of course, most Americans will never hear what the new Spanish PM said, since Spanish PMs don't get paid much attention on this side of the Atlantic (unless Democratic presidential candidates foolishly remind voters that Europeans never support Republicans).

UPDATE: Steve Sturm adds some thoughtful comments to my response.
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