Gingrich Ad Blasts Romney... For Speaking French

Whut, is AMERICAN not good 'nuff fer him?

In many circles – Canadian politics, the United Nations, coaching staff of the Montreal Canadiens – the ability to speak both English and French isn't just seen as an asset, it's just short of mandatory. But in the upside-down world of the U.S. Republican Party, being able to speak a couple words en francais is as big of a weakness as raising taxes or supporting state-sponsored health care. To wit: this new ad from Newt Gingrich's campaign that takes aim at frontrunner (and French-speaker) Mitt Romney:

It's funny – if you were to change the narrator's tone a little bit, you'd probably have a pretty successful ad for a Democratic candidate, and as such, it kinda makes Mitt seem more palatable to us. (Anti-Reagan? Pro-Windsurfing? Willing to raise taxes when necessary?) Anyhow, this really seems like a last-ditch attempt by the Gingrich campaign to bolster his conservative bona fides heading into the South Carolina primary next week. If Romney manages to win there – and that's certainly not set in stone, according to a poll out today – then he will almost certainly lock up the party's nomination before the month is out. But if Newt (or Ron Paul) ekes out a surprise victory, we can expect a whole new round of effete French-speaker bashing heading into February.