What?...does Obama speak with an accent?

I think the opposition to Obama's presidency has always had this "Fear of a Black Planet" undercurrent...however, the lines have already been drawn on this issue awhile ago though, so I don't see why they'd push this issue further. The idea of a biracial guy named Barack Obama becoming president either bugs you or it doesn't.

As someone who has been abroad through the entire Bush administration (thankfully) I can say that I've witnessed the erosion of American prestige abroad over the past 7 years...

And as for the second language issue...well, yes. There are millions and millions of people outside the United States that speak and write many languages other than their native one; check out the hungry Chinese 20-something who speaks English, Mandarin and a local language fluently. She will soon be replacing that lazy MBA who can't really negotiate in another language because she can. That is everywhere. Americans are foolish not to spend the time and brain power to become fluent in at least one other language. Not only does it improve competitiveness but it's actually fun to do it, and it's not rocket science.

Of course he's not a true American. He's not whining about anything. Isn't that what Americans do?

I suppose it's possible there is a controlled/concerted effort to portray Obama as EuroCentric or whatever...

but every time I see Giuliani in this type venue it seems to me that he just opens his mouth and his brain vomits.

This is the most assinine charge there is. I want to disbelieve anyone cares about such non-sense, besides party loyalists who salute whatever their candidate does, but for average Americans, for them to be most concerned with American-ness or patriotism in a candidate is just weird to me. It's kin to the whole tinfoil hat thing. Conspiracy theorist and such. Odd. Very odd.

Unfortunately, from the E-mails I get from some family members, they do doubt such things.

Remember that joke Rudolph Shag-liani told bout Sarkozy coming over to the US and Obama leaving... he was essentially saying he gets his inspiration from the French. Good times. Good times.

"I think John McCain is going to make sure that America stays America."

Speaking more than one language = Unamerican. We need to build fences to keep those pesky multi-lingual people out. We should also have the police deport those who speak another language to a random country where that language is spoken.

Half of John McCain's campaign team is on leave from Airbus and they are bitching that Obama isn't American enough. Rich.

So Obama is anti-american because he wants people to learn a second language? Buy that way of thinking, Dora The Explorer is obviously a young female Che Guevara.
ATTENTION ALL PARENTS: cute cartoons that teach your little ones snippets of Spanish are destroying America!!!!!!!!!!
And SpongeBob is gay!

Hey, now that Romney's not running for President, shouldn't his boys be serving in Iraq to serve this nation?

Now McCain's surrogates are taking this perfectly innocuous observation and using it to sow doubts about Obama.

Yes. That's what they do. Which is all the more reason for Democrats to stick to their guns and say what they believe, and not worry about Repub reaction. The fact is, Repubes will dissect anything you say anyway and use it to question your patriotism and integrity. Let them make asses of themselves, like Gu911ani and Mittens do above - it's all bullshit anyway.

Doesn't the Dumbshit-in-Chief pretend to speak Spanish from time to time? I guarantee you McStain speaks Vietnamese. I also guarantee you that Willard took a second language in High School. No way he gets into Stanford without it.

I for one am confounded. If John MCain truly loved America once he was deprived of her company, why didn't he jump at the first chance he was given to come back?

This is a perfect demonstration how a discussion about education turns into being unamerican. The GOP is an absolute disgrace,....so here's a follow up to Rudy,....should only 1 language be taught in public schools? And to think he was mayor one of the biggest ethnic melting pots in the world. Rudy, va te faire enculee!

Is there a chance that anybody in America actually gives a crap about what Rudy and Romney think? They're a couple of fuggin losers who got rejected pretty overwhelmingly by the voters. Especially Rudy--he probably couldn't even get himself elected president of the Hair Club for Men, for chrissake.

I was just in Southern Africa for a month. Contrary to GOP talking points, people there are excited about Barack because they want to have their faith and idealism about America restored. Many of them said to me that America had been a beacon to them and that the Bush administration had taken that away. I suspect this is also true of many Europeans even if they are more jaded than Africans.

Between Mittens and Rudy! calling out Obama's anti-America status and Lieberman accusing him of being anti-Israel, perhaps Obama should consider running for president of Iran. Elections are next year!

I keed.

Fooliani has no right to question anybody's commitment to his/her country. This coming from a creature who publicly dumped his wife for a wealthy, clingy Manhattan social lite. A creature who publicly ignored the plight of his Black and Latino constituents. Fooliani who has used the deaths of 3,000 Americans to line his pockets...please.

Freedom fries, anyone?

The show is diminishing as we get closer to the election. Scarborough has gone from offering more or less impartial analysis to routinely parroting Republican talking points. He wrapped up the "interview" with his standard good ol' boy shtick, asking rhetorically, as he does constantly, how this might play in small town X with Reagan Dems? The advice from Scarborough: more pandering. That's what wins elections. This is the crap that passes for political insight on MSNBC in the morning.

From the same people who supported the invasion of Iraq that has made America less safe.

From a "reformed Republican" White Boomer- Seeing Giuliani whose language skills are "noun, vowel, 9/11", Hannity (whose lack of intelligence should be an embarassment to his alama mater) and others take this so out of the context of a very productive discussion makes me sick. It disgusts me to personally witness a "crime" here....a hijacking or kidnapping of common sense and truth.

Now Barack is "un- Amanerican" and elitist again??

I was at the rally where this entire comment on learning Spanish and other languages as an American AND for immigrants of course needing to learn English came up. In fact it riffed out of a discussion around Barack's plan for early childhood education - THE most important thing we need to do for our kids...

The entire audience - which was 85%++ Black - agreed. As part of a better educational system that helps get our kids and country ready for the future language skills are important - as a are a host of other subjects,skills, programs like gym and art and music....just like all of us had who are Boomers growing up...AND - GASP!!! More parental responsibilty and involvement and accountability...

The book and movie the "Ugly American" 45 years ago first addressed American shortcomings in being multi lingual...this has been our problem for decades...

The luddites who think that any of us or our kids learning to speak Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese or any of the major world's languages is unamerican needs to have their head examined..

We are in, have been in and will forever now be part of a global economy and for our kids it will be all they know...we better have them prepared gto play. While we are important in it we longer are the only game in town - and have not been for a long time.

American arrogance or in this case narrow minded stupidity leads us nowhere in an accelerating, complex, global economy...

Yea, we should all be like those all American Republicans, with good family values.

Rudy Guiliani - dumped his wife during a press conference.

John McCain - dumped his wife while she was recouperating from a crippling car accident.

Newt Gingrich - dumped his wife while she was in the hospital being treated for cancer.

...I can keep going!

Of course all of this "aboveboard" balderdash is accompanied by a right wing screed circulating on the internet. It actually suggests Obama REALLY ISN'T AMERICAN, Hawaii wasn't a state at the time of his birth and so on...
Aside from the fact that it was, even if it had been a territory, he's got a birthright to all of the "freedoms" of any native born.
I don't doubt that all of this sort of stuff is co-ordinated by swiftboaters.
And this sort of malarky isn't going out to fact checkers, it's sent to right wing reactionaries. They are legion and they think snopes.com is run by hippie radicals.

Hey, Obama was born in Hawaii and lived for four years in Indonesia; John McQueeg was born in the Panama Canal Zone and lived in Vietnam for 5 1/2 years.

And McQueeg is saying that Obama isn't American??!!

"Sure go to Europe, hold some press conferences, photo ops, or maybe small speeches."

Yeah. Ideally, in front of a dull green backdrop with only a few people around...and make sure your small speeches are punctuated with awkward chuckles and ungainly repetition of the sentence, "That's not change we can believe in."

just curious, piano-key mouth Giuliani? but isn't the US a nation of immigrants? many Americans today are descended from hard-working and sacrificing immigrants from France, Britain, Italy, China, Ireland, and even Kenya. and you sit there and sneer that people in those countries' opinions don't matter, when many Americans still have relatives today in those above countries and many others? what say you, sir? and aren't you Italian descended, sir? in a way, you seem to be slamming Italians. go figure.

What if Romney had said: "I do think that, frankly, Barack Obama looks toward Africa for a lot of his inspiration."

Looking to Europe for inspiration - isn't that what all the neocon Sarkozy-lovers are doing? Like Newt Gingrich? I can't remember, but didn't some of the Republican presidential candidates meet with Sarkozy?

Romney ran off to France to be a Mormon missionary, instead of serving his country in the military, so who's he to say anything?