What a strange country the USA appears to my eyes....on one hand, the pride that the country has in its heritage from the Pilgrims to the "huddled masses yearning to be free" to the fact that many Americans still regard themselves as Irish, Puerto Rican or Italian despite neither having visited nor met their ancestors who originated from there........right the way through to the vibrant cultural melting pots of New York, Miami and Los Angeles....

But yet - this snide advertisement shows that even speaking French is a sign of what? Weakness, liberalism, over-education, lack of patriotism.

What a sad situation when it is considered a negative for a candidate for the "Leader of the Free World" (their phrase, not mine) to speak another language

Astonishing

Ha ha wow. Yet another thing to add to the ever-growing pile of reasons why I'm glad that I moved.

You know, the funny thing about that advertisement is the fact that it came from Newt Gingrich, who first called the Spanish language "the language of the ghetto" and then later apologized on national television for his remarks...in Spanish.

REALLY Newt?

During one of the debates Jon Huntsman spoke in Mandarin and I believe IIRC he got either booed or criticized for doing so.

I don't understand how people can be so...close minded. Why is it a bad thing to expand your personal knowledge and learn a foreign language? Although I guess in this day and age it's getting more common among extreme conservatives in the US to paint anyone with a higher education as "elitist". Bah.

"If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for me."
(This quote is not actually verifiable and may be an urban legend)

American presidential candidates; there's nothing they love more than mom's apple pie and smearing their fellow party nominees with more crap than New York's sewage system.

Put America second, right after their own narrow-minded (conservative) agendas. So help them God.

I think the background music for this ad is hilarious

right or wrong, the typical American has a strong dislike of the French. some of this is driven by legitimate historical differences between the countries, which I won't bother to list here. some of it is also driven by the fact that the US has very large and active immigrant populations from all over the world, except for France. I suspect this ad would never run had Romney spoken German, Spanish or even Swiss German. Kerry in particular would have been better served speaking Swiss German, given his 7 years or so at the Montana Institute.

keep in mind, as well, that the typical American, just like the typical person just about anywhere in the world, is prone to incredible acts of ignorance and stupidity. it ain't like the typical Swiss is a huge fan of Germans, for example, or Americans.

Made the experiance that most Americans seem to forget that the French fleet at Yorktown made it possible for American independence.
So it should be UK and not the Americans miffed with the French.
Oh! I forget, we are

Wasn't the Statue of Liberty a gift from the French?

Oh, and "Bonjour, je m'appelle Mitt Romney" hardly qualifies as being able to "speak French"

So the Statue of Liberty is about to be sent back to Paris shipping charges collect? I don't think so.

The advert is a poor piece of propaganda at best and plain lousy politics. I'm sure some redneck on his porch might buy into it and vote accordingly. They're a fickle lot the American voting public. We're all born equal or so the saying goes, fact is, we're only born geographically equal and then we abuse the privilege of birth and nationality as best we can.

the ad is obviously ridiculous, although I've now watched it a half dozen times and the background music still makes me laugh until I cry.

the American voting public, however, is no more fickle than the voting public anywhere else. we gringos hardly have the market cornered on close-mindedness and stupidity, although admittedly the typical voter in South Carolina or Georgia (where Gingrich served previously) may own a larger share of the market than voters elsewhere.

this is the first thing a 5-second google search pulls up, btw. it certainly doesn't make the Gingrich ad any less stupid, but at least it does a pretty decent job of theorizing on the sentiment the ad is playing on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Fr..._United_States

When I watch these presidential ads on various websites I am deeply shocked - I am wondering if a lot of them are allowed because of the laws on comparative advertising in the USA? And do any other countries advertise in this way?

We have party political broadcats in the UK, but they aren't anywhere near as vindictive or personally insulting as these things the US campaigns always choke up.

There's a thing in the U.S. called "free speech". Google it - if you're from the UK and used to "super injunctions" and "libel laws", you'll be in for a surprise.

If you're American, you learn to ignore them. It also helps you ignore whinging.

What else would you expect, other than mud slinging tactics, from a man named 'Newt'.

The French made the USA the powerhouse that it is with the signing of the louisiana purchase of 1802 on very agreeable terms, and also the statue of liberty was a gift from Paris. The Americans have alot to thank the French for, if it hadn't have been for the Napoleonic wars Britain would have re-claimed the USA in 1812 (Mores the pity).

I find these guys who claim Irish/ Scottish-ness ridiculous, their ancestors where happy to leave the god forsaken hardships persecution and sectarianism of the old world to live a free and equal life as an 'American' divorced from class, religion, denomination, or ethnic persecution.

Their children’s children have recreated the persecution sectarian divides class wars and hardship associated with the tag 'Irish' Scottish' 'Polish' that led them to leave the old world in the first place.

What I find even more shocking about these ads is that these guys are from the same party, sort of.

I remember all the Obama-Clinton mudslinging back in 2000and whateveritwas, now they are best buddies (allegedly).

It's de rigueur (oh merde!) to try to prove your 'street cred' to the die hard base during the primaries and then move more toward the center during the general election. It all comes down to who scares the moderate swing voters less. If you get to bat-shit crazy during the primaries though, you'll scare off the swing voters..unless the other guy is even more scary.

did you mean 2008 when Hillary was running for President?

That would be the one.

We defeated them at Yorktown, and would have thrashed them
once again.