Honestly, everytime you think things can’t get worse for Republicans….well, read the press release from the DSCC to fully understand the idiocy behind what Dole did (and then try not to laugh–I dare you!):

For Immediate Release

July 15, 2008

Contact: Matthew Miller, 202-485-3123

Hannah August, 202-485-3129

OH MON DIEU – FRENCH PLANE IN DOLE COMMERCIALS FLOWN BY SADDAM’S AIR FORCE

 According to a report in today’s edition of the Hill newspaper, an ad aired by North Carolina Republican Elizabeth Dole taking credit for saving North Carolina military installations actually included images of a French-made Dassault Super Etendard fighter jet, which was last seen in combat action being flown by Saddam Hussein’s Air Force during the Iran-Iraq War.  The Hill reports that after initially airing the ad, Dole then abruptly and quietly changed the footage to instead show an American-made aircraft.

According to the Air Combat Information Group, a group specializing in air history, France leased five Super Etendards to Iraq in October 1983. Iraq began using the aircraft in March 1984 to attack tankers along the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf, and eventually returned three of the planes to France after two were shot down. http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_208.shtml

“If Elizabeth Dole actually spent any time in North Carolina touring the military installations she brags about in her campaign ads, she might be able to tell the difference between an American jet and a French one,” said DSCC Communications Director Matthew Miller.  “With a faux pas like this, it’s no wonder North Carolinians are ready to say ‘au revoir’ to Dole in November.”

Dole’s campaign has offered no explanation for how the campaign obtained and aired footage of the French plane.

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