i was out of town for much of the weekend, so i didn't get to discuss that "arrogant and stupid" comment. fernandez has already withdrawn the statement and issued an apology (though who he is apologizing to is not clear).
anyway, abu aardvark has a good discussion of the controversial statement in the context of his larger remarks. it's hard to see how they could be viewed as out of line in that context. as the aardvark says, the three words that have been quoted so much are really just "a throat clearing preface" to his larger point that arabs need to focus on how to solve the problem of iraq rather than just gloating over american failures. that leaves the media's focus on the "arrogant and stupid" line as especially ironic, it is doing exactly what fernandez is saying not to do in his overall remarks.
the fact that he issued an apology is really a shame. it means that diplomats will be deterred from the type of credibility-building straight talk that is needed. if our diplomats come across as nothing more than advertising shills for u.s. policy, they'll be dismissed as nothing but that. i understand that "arrogant and stupid" makes an embarrassing sound bite, but the retraction of the small portion of his remarks that criticized u.s. policy turns his remarks into yet another moonshine sales pitch. we certainly don't need more of that.
