The Jose Maria Aznar Post
Jose Maria Aznar. Who is he? For one, he is the funny looking:
...and yet strangely sexy:
..former Prime Minister of Spain from 1996-2004. For roughly half my lifetime, this short, hairy, and seriously little Spanish tax authority lawyer led Spain with a sweet mustache and economic reforms that brought Spain's economy into the 20th century. And then it turned into the 21st century. And then he brought Spain there, too.
He was a close political friend of George W Bush, fostering the best Spanish-American relations since that little war thing we had with Spain at the turn of the century ("Remember the Maine!"). For once the land of flamenco and classical guitar met the land of subpar pop and drum machine. Unfortunately, the friendship would not last long...
Aznar will be known as the guy who handled the March 11th terrorist attack in Madrid the wrong way, blaming it on the radical Basque group ETA - a battle against which his party had made a strong party of their platform - and refusing to change the story after everyone knew it was al Queda.
This is the reason for my post. The above blunder by Aznar cost his conservative Partido Popular, which had been given a clear mandate to lead in the previous election, the election - just two weeks later. Surely Islamic extremists reveled in the fact that 87% of Spanish voters gave the terrorist attacks credit for the isolationist Socialist party to gain control of Parliament and the Prime Minister-ship. It is simply a crying shame that Aznar did not come out and say that at very least the government wasn't sure who committed the attacks.
Aznar's successor, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is significantly less sexy:
I would like to further show how sucky Rodriguez Zapatero is in comparison to Aznar in a battle royal known as the "Spanish Prime Minister-off":
Facial Hair:
Aznar: Thick 'stache.
Rodriguez: Baby face.
ADVANTAGE: AZNAR
Family's Political Leanings:
Aznar: Spanish Fascist Party
Rodriguez: Spanish Communist Party
ADVANTAGE: AZNAR
Famous Friends:
Aznar: Tony Blair and G Dubya
Rodriguez: Leftist Dictator Hugo Chavez
ADVANTAGE: AZNAR
Insight into American Politics:
Aznar: "I did tell the President that we need a lot of Colin Powell and very little of Rumsfeld"
Rodriguez: "We're aligning ourselves with Kerry. Our allegiance will be... for a dialogue between the government of Spain and the new Kerry administration."
ADVANTAGE: AZNAR
Finally, Best Characterization:
Aznar: Big nose and the 'stache.
Rodriguez: Mr. Bean!?!?
ADVANTAGE: RODRIGUEZ
We can now see that clearly, Aznar owns Rodriguez, hands down.
...so now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
posted by Michael @ 1:16 AM
Comments: 0
