By - - BBC NEWS
Added: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:42:43 UTC

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

Mitt Romney (right) spent more than two years as a Mormon missionary in France in the 1960s

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.

"Massachusetts moderate Mitt Romney - he'll say anything to win. Anything," warns the narrator. "And just like John Kerry he speaks French, too."

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TAGGED: US POLITICS