# Gingrich attack ad/Romney speaking French \[edited title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 13, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453 "2012-01-13T23:44:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/21 "2012-01-14T04:33:45Z")
> [@Paralogic](#): > > No. > > Something that will play well with white toothless beer chugging mindless drones that are, surprisingly, able to vote, and always vote Republican. Toothless? Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/22 "2012-01-14T06:17:26Z")
Here’s the actual ad. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyFaWhygzjQ) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/23 "2012-01-14T07:13:30Z")
> [@Paralogic](#): > > Gingrich now blames Romney for having an education. Something that will play well with white toothless beer chugging mindless drones that are, surprisingly, able to vote, and always vote Republican. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Toothless? > Cite? Education, specifically whether you have a high school education, significantly lowers the incidence of extensive periodontal disease. See _J Periodontol_, Apr 1999 “Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and Oral Health: Assessment of Periodontal Disease”. What? ---
**Author:** ![littlespeedysuperbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@littlespeedysuperbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/littlespeedysuperbike)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/24 "2012-01-14T07:42:25Z")
How is it that we have attack ads that mock a candidate for being too friendly _towards our oldest and most loyal ally_? ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/25 "2012-01-14T07:42:27Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Here’s the actual ad. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyFaWhygzjQ&feature=player\_embedded](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyFaWhygzjQ&feature=player_embedded) Wow. There are so many things to say about that ad I don’t even know where to begin. It almost doesn’t even make sense. Clearly, Newt and his people feel the word “Massachusetts” is seen as evil by most South Carolinians. The image of Dukakis is odd because I would think most people don’t even remember him today. And the French thing is just sad. Newt really really hates Mitt. Anyone in the [“Pick the Republican Veep”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638005) thread who suggested Newt hasn’t been paying much attention. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/26 "2012-01-14T09:07:15Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Is there really even a single person there who doesn’t know English, at least as a second language? (I’m sure there are no Indians left who don’t, from the Rio Grande to the Northwest Passage.) The bilingualism rate in Quebec hovers around 40 %. Francophones in Quebec tend to have lower rates of bilingualism than either anglophones in Quebec, or allophones. See this table: [Bilingualism Rate in Canada](http://www.salic-slmc.ca/showpage.asp?file=langues_en_presence/langues_off/taux_biling&language=en&updatemenu=true). (Data is from 2001, but I doubt that it’s changed much.) So just under two-thirds of Quebeckers don’t speak English. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/27 "2012-01-14T13:51:01Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Wow. > > There are so many things to say about that ad I don’t even know where to begin. It almost doesn’t even make sense. Clearly, Newt and his people feel the word “Massachusetts” is seen as evil by most South Carolinians. The image of Dukakis is odd because I would think most people don’t even remember him today. And the French thing is just sad. > > Newt really really hates Mitt. Anyone in the [“Pick the Republican Veep”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638005) thread who suggested Newt hasn’t been paying much attention. i believe dukakis was just thrown in as a mass. thing, i don’t believe that he speaks french… greek perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/28 "2012-01-14T14:09:56Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > America’s attitude toward France has always been schizophrenic from extreme Francophilia as the bastion of culture which American intellectuals often worshipped blindly to extreme Francophobia as Napoleonic conquerors, Jacobin radicals, or cheese eating surrender monkeys. France had some 8000 soldiers and a fleet present when Cornwallis surrendered. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/29 "2012-01-14T14:11:06Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > And the French thing is just sad. Newt is unlikely to win Louisiana. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/30 "2012-01-14T14:26:40Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Wow. > > There are so many things to say about that ad I don’t even know where to begin. It almost doesn’t even make sense. Okay, I’ll cover one. Who doesn’t know how to say, “Bonjour, je m’appelle \_\_\_\_”? In what world does this mean you speak French? Is it because he can “back roll” his Rs? This is the most basic phrase they teach you. I bet a speech writer could have told him how to say this. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/31 "2012-01-14T14:41:17Z")
Sometimes I wish that American politics was conducted in a language I don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/32 "2012-01-14T14:48:03Z")
I don’t think that it was mocking him for speaking French so much as saying that he was a John Kerry clone, and the French thing was just something they threw in at the end…you know, “he even speaks French, like John Kerry.” And he does, btw, know how to speak French. He spent two and a half years as a missionary to France. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/33 "2012-01-14T17:31:51Z")
I love the silliness that occasionally creeps into elections. Newt Gingrich’s latest attack against Romney? He speaks French. That’s telling the dirty so and so. 😛 Is this the best Newt can come up with? Nothing else has worked. I guess Newt will attack Romney’s dog next time. 😃 I’m not a Romney supporter. I just find this latest attack against him so silly. Priceless. > **[Mitt Romney lambasted in attack ad for speaking French](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16549624)** > > Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is skewered in a new political attack ad - for speaking French. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/34 "2012-01-14T17:41:35Z")
It’s not exactly Swift Boating, which was the most despicable thing I’ve seen in the last 40 years, but it’s an indication of just how slimy things are going to get in the Presidential election. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/35 "2012-01-14T17:45:41Z")
Doesn’t Newt have a PhD in Belgian history? I can’t imagine he could do that without at least being able to read french. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/36 "2012-01-14T17:51:52Z")
I’m pretty sure Newt must read French too. The article in my OP has a link to Newt’s Ad. Its highlighted in the article. > [@](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/37 "2012-01-14T17:52:21Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Doesn’t Newt have a PhD in Belgian history? I can’t imagine he could do that without at least being able to read french. Which means at some time in his life he used the word “Belgium”. How could he let such filth pass his lips? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/38 "2012-01-14T17:52:29Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I love the silliness that occasionally creeps into elections. > > Newt Gingrich’s latest attack against Romney? > > He speaks French. > > That’s telling the dirty so and so. 😛 Is this the best Newt can come up with? Nothing else has worked. I guess Newt will attack Romney’s dog next time. 😃 > > I’m not a Romney supporter. I just find this latest attack against him so silly. It may be silly, but this kind of stuff plays well with low-information, poorly educated, Republican voters. Newt knows exactly what he’s doing here. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/39 "2012-01-14T18:01:44Z")
Mitt uses French in public. Newt only Frenched in the privacy of his own home. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453/40 "2012-01-14T18:26:05Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > And he does, btw, know how to speak French. He spent two and a half years as a missionary to France. I figured as much, but, still, that’s a bad clip. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gingrich-attack-ad-romney-speaking-french-edited-title/609453.md?page=3)