Technically speaking, as Teribus alludes to, the Western Hemisphere includes most of the British Isles & Ireland, part of western France, Spain, Portugal, and a large chunk of west Africa. That's because the dividing line between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres runs straight through Greenwich, England which puts most of England west of the line.

Here's what Wickipedia has to say about it:

The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere[1] or western hemisphere,[2] is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich in London, England, United Kingdom), the other half being the eastern hemisphere.[3] It is also used to specifically refer to the Americas (or the New World) and adjacent waters, while excluding other territories that lie geographically in the hemisphere (parts of Africa, Europe, Antarctica, and Asia); thus, it is sometimes referred to as the American hemisphere.[4] Western hemisphere is sometimes used as an equivalent for the geopolitical construct, the Western World, which typically includes the Americas, Europe and Australia.

In the western hemisphere live only approx. 15 % of worlds population.

Any definition of eastern and western hemispheres, however, requires the selection of an arbitrary meridian and a corresponding meridian on the other side of the Earth. The Prime Meridian at 0° longitude is typically used, which runs through Greenwich; this is used to define the International Date Line (or End Meridian) on the other side of the Earth at 180° longitude. In its proper geographic sense, the western hemisphere includes not only the Americas, but the western portions of Europe and Africa, the easternmost tip of Russia, numerous territories in Oceania, and a portion of Antarctica while excluding some of the Aleutian Islands to the southwest of the Alaskan mainland. Often, the meridians of 20° W and the diametrically opposed 160° E are used,[4][5] which excludes the European and African mainlands but also excludes a small portion of northeast Greenland and includes more of eastern Russia and Oceania (e.g., New Zealand).

The two major regions of Antarctica are named after their positions mainly within a single hemisphere; West Antarctica is named for the Western Hemisphere.

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McCain may have been confused about whether he was talking about Latin America or part of Europe in the interview...or he may not have been. He may even have been confused about what he was being asked due to the accent of the Hispanic interviewer who was asking the questions. It's a little hard to tell.

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It's convenient for anyone in the media who wants to embarrass McCain, of course, but I doubt it's of much significance in the larger scheme of things.

I have much more substantial reasons than that to not want him elected...like his general policies and his general attitude. ;-) This is just another little juicy tidbit of passing controversy for the partisan minds out there and the media to chew on.

And many more yet to come, I'm sure. Both sides are eager to catch any possible unfortunate slip of the tongue that Obama, McCain, Palin, or Biden might make, and then crucify them over it. They watch for it like a hungry dog. That's standard election tactics.

People shouldn't lose elections over momentary slips of the tongue. They should lose elections because their overall policies are simply not as good as those of their opponents.