Speaking French for All to Hear

There was a time not long ago -- about six months or so -- when presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) would rather have been caught fraternizing with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth guys than caught speaking French.

Speaking that language -- as opposed to Spanish -- was yet another sign that Kerry was an elite Eastern establishment snob, even vaguely treasonous given the French position on Iraq. Republicans gleefully made sport of Kerry's French abilities. And so Kerry, fluent in the language, absolutely would not let a French word leave his mouth.

But now the political ban appears to have been lifted.

On Friday, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), spoke to a GOP women's gathering in New Hampshire, where he's clearly not running for president in 2008, and not only spoke the dread language but also initiated a little chat in French.

Even worse, French-speakers say his accent is quite good and he was most comfortable bantering before his speech with a woman from a French-speaking African country.

After some chit-chat in English, Romney asked the woman if she speaks French. She said yes, and he switched languages and said he speaks French, too, adding that he had lived in France for 2 1/2 years, doing his Mormon missionary work.

He mentioned that he had lived in Paris, which he said was "fore-mi-dahb," meaning "great." Romney said he was "there in 1968 when there were general strikes," not to mention massive riots, and that things were "difficult."

Mon dieu!

The Get-Out-of-Yale Cards

Speaking of Kerry, maybe he was good at languages, but it turns out that his college grades were virtually the same as those of the language-challenged President Bush .

The conventional media wisdom during the campaign was that Kerry was the brainy candidate, Bush the bumbler. But Bush, with a 77 overall, bested Kerry by one point.

What's more, Kerry received four D's his freshman year, according to his grade transcript, which was included in his Navy records obtained by the Boston Globe.

Well, shows you that Yale in those days did not have grade inflation.