Mitt Romney lambasted in attack ad for speaking French

BBC News ^ | Jan 13, 2012 | BBC News

[EnglishCon]

Quelle horreur! Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has been skewered in a new political attack ad - for speaking French.

The ad, released by rival Newt Gingrich, seeks to draw unflattering parallels between Mr Romney and another Massachusetts politician, John Kerry.

Entitled The French Connection, it features a clip of Mr Romney talking in French when he ran the Winter Olympics.

Video at link

[RichInOC]

“Tish! He spoke French! Where’s my checkbook?”

[VicVega]

I think it's great if our Leaders can speak a different language.

Ever hear Gingrich speak spanish?

Bad clip, but you'll get the point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og0HqSZVKqA

[Hawthorn]

>> speaking French cost him a vote? <<

Not so sure it’ll hurt Romney in South Carolina. Charleston is full of French heritage. And European companies are a very big deal in the Greenville-Spartanburg area.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of South Carolina GOPers are insulted by a message from Newt’s campaign that seems to assume the entire state is a bunch of uneducated rednecks who have a visceral distaste for anything French.

[RoosterRedux]

Did you watch the ad? It makes brilliant use of humor to deliver a devastating blow to Romney. And I loved the French music playing in the background.

[EnglishCon]

This is what I was thinking. This entire ad seems designed to be laughed at and make the maker of the ad look ridiculous. Romney and Kerry both speak French? Bush 43, Reagan, Clinton and Perry all speak (or can get by in) Spanish. Should that be in an attack ad? Most Americans I know can at least get by in a second language.

Where are the hard hits on Romney’s actual record? Even we over here know that the guy is about as conservative as Sarkozy - yet this PoS ad gets put out instead of gun grabbing, obama care, racism and anti-life?

Newt, I really want to like you here, but you are making it difficult. Stop insulting your base!

[EnglishCon]

That just makes me sad. Are people really THAT shallow?

[muir_redwoods]

In the big list of things I don’t like about Romney, being a francophone does not make it to page one. This is a stupid, stupid ad that puts conservatives in an awful light.

[Vaquero]

Have no idea. I'm as redneck a Texas boy as ever got whelped, and I get by in Spanish and French both. I can also speak authentic frontier gibberish.

Gabby Johnson speaks authentic frontier gibberish

[houeto]

Can some kind FRiend explain this angle and how it will be or should be effective?

Not me. It was a really good ad until he threw that stupid part in.

[vbmoneyspender]

That just makes me sad. Are people really THAT shallow?

Yes we know, us Americans, particularly us conservative Americans are really stupid.

[Hawthorn]

>> Ever hear Gingrich speak spanish? <<

Don’t want to hear it, even though it can’t possibly be as painful as Jimmy Carter’s butchered Spanish.

But when it comes to French, Newt has an excellent command. His Ph.D. in history (Tulane University) depended heavily on French documents, not to mention his own person-to-person interviews in French-speaking Belgium.

[dfwgator]

Just when I think there is a candidate I like, I come back to the realization that all of these guys are the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.

[Question Liberal Authority]

I am confused. Romney is terrible - he'd not get a look in here in the UK - yet an ad attacks him for speaking French? Can some kind FRiend explain this angle and how it will be or should be effective?

If you hunt down a PJ O'Rourke book called "Holidays In Hell" and read the essay titled "Among The Euro-Weenies", you should get some sense of why this would be an effective tack. If it weren't taken by some Uber-Intellectual college professor who, under ordinary circumstances, considers himself to the the smartest human being in the room.

In general, there's a common perception that the USA has pulled France's butt out of the fire several times over the past 100 years or so, yet France is generally ungrateful for our help and somewhat snobbish in their attitude.

[fantom]

“It’s a good ad. The french part is comparing Romney to Kerry. It’s on Hotair.com”

A good ad ? My you are easily entertained. The desperation is stunning .

[org.whodat]

This attack is nothing but desperation, my god where was newt when his first campaign manager left. He was on vacation, where madoff had his boat, i would not doubt that newt has one there as well. They do speak that terrible language there .

[RoosterRedux]

A good ad ? My you are easily entertained. The desperation is stunning.

That from a rabid Newt-hater? Shocked I tell ya!

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Mittens will need to speak French to talk to the new leaders of the Free World.

[EnglishCon]

Thank you, I shall find it and read it.

Isn’t any country on the planet who hates the French more than the English - we have a 900 year head start on you - but this whole line of attack would simply be a non starter here. Hence my confusion.

And my thanks to all thus far. As my post history shows, I prefer Perry - he’ll actually consider his allies as more than second spear carrier on the right - but ANY true conservative is better than the squishys or the Dems. What the US does, Europe echoes.

Go Santorum! Go Perry! Go Newt!

[Colofornian]

Actually it raises the question in my mind about Mitt’s missionary work. How many Catholics did he convert to Mormonism? What exactly was he doing there in France?

Well he drove a car hit by somebody...and wife of the missionary president in the car died.

(Which is why, in part, most Lds missionaries now have rules meant to keep them on bikes)

[RoosterRedux]

He was on vacation, where madoff had his boat

Huh?

Newt was on vacation in Greece IIRC. Bernie Madoff kept his boat in Palm Beach, FL.