From the BBC at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16549624
Mitt Romney lambasted in attack ad for speaking French
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.
The Republicans are vying to challenge President Obama in November's election.
Correspondents say the highlighting of Mr Romney's alleged French-language skills is an attempt to portray him as an elitist, European-style liberal wimp.
'Je m'appelle Mitt'
Accompanied by a French accordion soundtrack, the ad says Mr Romney is a "Massachusetts moderate who ran away from Ronald Reagan", the revered Republican president.
After decrying the former Massachusetts governor for backing government-mandated healthcare, taxpayer-funded abortions and raising taxes, the ad delivers the coup de grace.
John Kerry In 2004, Republicans said then Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry "looks French"
"Massachusetts moderate Mitt Romney - he'll say anything to win. Anything," warns the narrator. "And just like John Kerry he speaks French, too."
It is followed by a clip of Democratic Senator Kerry saying, "Laissez les bon temps rouler", juxtaposed with another of Mr Romney saying, "Bonjour, je m'appelle Mitt Romney."
The footage comes from a promotional video Mr Romney recorded when he was chief executive of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, in the US state of Utah.
Millionaire businessman Mr Romney also spent more than two years living in Paris and Bordeaux in the 1960s working as a Mormon missionary.
Some commentators have highlighted a possible irony in that Mr Gingrich, a former House Speaker, has a doctorate in European history. His 1971 dissertation, Belgian Education Policy in the Congo 1945-1960, contains a number of sources in French in its bibliography.
Other recent attacks ads by Republican rivals have pilloried Mr Romney, who built a fortune in private equity, as a job-destroying corporate raider.
It is not the first time that Sen Kerry's links to France - he speaks the language and has relatives in the country - have become an issue in US politics.
When he was the Democratic nominee to challenge George W Bush for the White House in 2004, Republicans said he "looks French".
Amid patriotic outrage over the French government's opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, cafeterias in the House of Representatives issued a culinary rebuke by changing the name of french fries on menus to "freedom fries".
The Republicans are preparing for a potentially crucial primary election in the state of South Carolina on 21 January.
Mr Romney was declared the winner of Iowa's caucuses earlier this month and scored a resounding victory in New Hampshire's primary this week.
The contenders will compete in a series of state-by-state primaries and caucuses before the winning candidate is anointed at the Republican Party convention in August.
Analysts say Mr Romney could have the nomination effectively sewn up well before then if his momentum is not checked in South Carolina.
We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
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Atheist-Lite
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
They want a Englishman. It is understandable. 
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Warren Dew
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
Tell me this ad wouldn't work in the UK.
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Ronja
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
.Rum wrote:From the BBC at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16549624
Mitt Romney lambasted in attack ad for speaking French
Quelle horreur! Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has been skewered in a new political attack ad - for speaking French. ...
That is the dumbest thing I have heard in a very long time, and that's saying a LOT (seeing just how much time I spend reading the kind of bollocks posted here - and I'm not even starting on our presidential election...)
.
- I mean REALLY "The internet is made of people. People matter. This includes you. Stop trying to sell everything about yourself to everyone. Don’t just hammer away and repeat and talk at people—talk TO people. It’s organic. Make stuff for the internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free." - Maureen J
"...anyone who says it’s “just the Internet” can
. And then when they come back, they can again." - Tigger
"...anyone who says it’s “just the Internet” can
. And then when they come back, they can again." - Tigger-
Horwood Beer-Master
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
This ad wouldn't work in the UK.Warren Dew wrote:Tell me this ad wouldn't work in the UK.
Or even run for that matter.
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Svartalf
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
Maybe it's time to test our new strategy of surrender and then invade?
Embrace the Darkness, it needs a hug
PC stands for "Patronizing Cocksucker" Randy Ping
PC stands for "Patronizing Cocksucker" Randy Ping
Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
The right wing in this country has gone to a lot of effort to demonize French over the years as effete snobbish pansies (does the phrase "cheese eating surrender monkey" ring any bells?) - this is just the natural progression of expressing their core values: myopia, nationalism, and anti-intellectualism. Based on their last few candidates, the requirement seems to be that you went to college but didn't learn anything there.
Who needs a signature anyway?
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Svartalf
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
If that sonnagun Nelson hadn't read Themistocles, we would have invaded Ridicule Island anyway.
Embrace the Darkness, it needs a hug
PC stands for "Patronizing Cocksucker" Randy Ping
PC stands for "Patronizing Cocksucker" Randy Ping
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Rum
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
I am constantly sometimes that the USA always, with one notable exception (Bush2!!) ends up with someone more or less competent to do what must be one of the hardest and scariest jobs ever in the world. It says a lot for the American public that so far they haven't voted in someone who has blown the lot of us to smithereens.
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Twoflower
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
Give it time.
I'm wild just like a rock, a stone, a tree
And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life
And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life
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Ronja
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
Nice to see the optimism of youth...Twoflower wrote:Give it time.
"The internet is made of people. People matter. This includes you. Stop trying to sell everything about yourself to everyone. Don’t just hammer away and repeat and talk at people—talk TO people. It’s organic. Make stuff for the internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free." - Maureen J
"...anyone who says it’s “just the Internet” can . And then when they come back, they can again." - Tigger
"...anyone who says it’s “just the Internet” can
. And then when they come back, they can again." - Tigger
Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
Speaking of which, I plan on making a run for the Presidency in 2028...
Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
Tony Blair speaks fluent French and I believe the current French leader speaker fluent English.
While there are plenty of reasons not to like either of them the ability to speak in any language is not one of them, also in general even if you don't like a country the ability to speak the language of someone you don't like is generally a very positive one
While there are plenty of reasons not to like either of them the ability to speak in any language is not one of them, also in general even if you don't like a country the ability to speak the language of someone you don't like is generally a very positive one
When only criminals carry guns the police know exactly who to shoot!
Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
I don't think it's the ability to speak a foreign language that is the case here. Mr. Huntsman speaks Mandarin Chinese, and I think most people, even the most knuckle-dragging Republicans, would consider that to be a big plus. George W. Bush spoke Spanish. It's the particular language: French. At this time in US history, it invites a certain amount of antipathy among right-wingers.
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Twoflower
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- Location: Boston
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Re: We wunt are Predent to be a dumbass.
I know too much about politics to optimistic.Ronja wrote:Nice to see the optimism of youth...Twoflower wrote:Give it time.
I'm wild just like a rock, a stone, a tree
And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life
And I'm free, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I flow, just like a brook, a stream, the rain
And I fly, just like a bird up in the sky
And I'll surely die, just like a flower plucked
And dragged away and thrown away
And then one day it turns to clay
It blows away, it finds a ray, it finds its way
And there it lays until the rain and sun
Then I breathe, just like the wind the breeze that blows
And I grow, just like a baby breastfeeding
And it's beautiful, that's life
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