Posted on 06/11/2004 2:35:56 AM PDT by conservative in nyc
OLEDO, Ohio — Senator John Kerry may speak French fluently, but he does not speak it publicly, at least not anymore. In a high school commencement address here on Sunday, on the 60th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, Mr. Kerry skipped yet another opportunity to use the language he learned in high school.
In his best American accent, Senator Kerry referred to the "glorious boys of Pointe du Hoc," emphasizing each consonant: POYNT-doo-HOCK. The text of his remarks even left the "e" off the first word, anglicizing it to "Point." Twenty years earlier, in his own D-Day anniversary speech, President Ronald Reagan used the local pronunciation, PWAHNT-deu-OCH.
(President Bush, who did not mention Pointe du Hoc by name in his D-Day remarks in Normandy, did manage to mangle the "Marseillaise" and poked fun at a reporter for asking President Jacques Chirac of France a question in his native tongue.)
Mr. Bush's re-election campaign has tried for months to attack Mr. Kerry for his ties to France, a country whose refusal to participate in the Iraq invasion led some Americans to boycott French wine and cheese and the Capitol cafeteria to rename America's favorite potatoes "Freedom Fries." Republicans frequently point out that a cousin of Mr. Kerry's is an officeholder in the French government, and suggest that the presumptive Democratic nominee "looks French," whatever that means.
Mr. Kerry, who promotes his internationalist tendencies but plays down the year he spent in a Swiss boarding school, last spoke French with television cameras rolling during a March visit to New Orleans, where he pleased a French Quarter crowd by starting off his speech with, "laissez les bon temps rouler" — "let the good times roll."
But since then, he has responded to questions from a French reporter traveling on his plane in English only, and said that he decided against attending Sunday's D-Day celebration in France, citing "logistics." A few weeks ago in Boston, when a cameraman shouted "Bon apetit" as Mr. Kerry headed to dinner at a local bistro, the candidate cupped his ear, Reaganlike, and asked, "What does that mean?"
Just don't answer in French.
Oh. And President Bush is a "mangler", but Kerry is described as "Reaganesque". After, all it is a Slimes article.
It figures, even Kerrys french is phoney
I would just BET a video of Kerry giving a speech in French would be worth a few voters. Probably why he will hide it.
"Mr. Bush's re-election campaign has tried for months to attack Mr. Kerry for his ties to France."
I have been attentive to the Bush campaign, as you might imagine, and I have not seen this. Maybe the NYT lurks on FR and thinks WE are part of the campaign. LOL.
" Next thing, you'll be telling us that the Bush campaign hasn't attacked Kerry's patriotism."
Well, now that you mention it...LOL.
Patriotism? When did he get any of that?
|
|
 |
Frenchy |
Was this on the gossip page? What a childish thing to write a story about. My childrens middle school paper has better journalism in it than this.
It was in a column called "Political Points". I'm not sure where it appeared in the print edition of the Slimes, if at all. I only found it because I did a search for pictures of Kerry on Yahoo! News (still none at all from 6/9, when he was attending his daughter's graduation --- I guess he asked the media horde not to follow him --- unlike at his Reagan Library appearance). It's the linked first article that comes up on the right.
Kerry is a walking Photo Op .. everything he does is for a reason .. it's all about him
Conservative in NYC. Must be pretty lonely work.
Political Points sounds somewhat like a gossip column. Those often times do tend to be petty and not so serious. Still, they are pretty far off the reservation looking for something to criticize Bush on. What about speaking French do you suppose qualifies one over another for President? Having spent considerable time in Texas, I can assure speaking French is not a quality that will get you anything but shot.
The Old Grey Whore, a.k.a. the Slimes, would tell you that it does NOT print gossip columns, unlike those unreliable tabloids, the New York Post and New York Daily News. They only print all the NEWS that's fit to print.
In reality, the Slimes often prints gossip masquerading as news. Sometimes, they even put it on the front page.
I think their point was two-fold: 1) Kerry's acting like he doesn't speak French when he speaks it fluently and 2) this is because of naive anti-French bias, perpetuated by President Bush.
The sad part is the liberals here take this crap as gospel.
Where, BTW, was Mr. Kerry's high school? Anyone know?
Thanks...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.