New Ad Says 'Merci, McCain," the Hero of France

Why would the French be thanking John McCain? Well, for backing the US Air Force decision to award a huge contract for air refueling tankers to Europe's Airbus. The ad, by the Campaign for America's Future, open with a banner draped over the Arc de Triomphe with the words "John McCain - Hero De La France" emblazoned on it. It says it's a "Message of thanks to John McCain from the French people."

The ad, completely in French with English subtitles, says

A big thanks to John McCain.
Thankyou for all the jobs.
Thanks for helping the US military ...
... choose a French company, Airbus!
Tens of thousands of jobs for the French.
And thousands fewer for Americans, ha, ha, ha!
It's a good day to be French!
It's a great day for France!
Long live John McCain!
And long live France!

It should be noted that the ad was released to coincide with his visit with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. A meeting between friends?

It should be noted that such a bidding process is not supposed to take American jobs into account, but once the decision was made, there was a huge eruption among citizens and politicians.

As the Campaign for America's Future said in their blog post accompanying the video:

McCain has been wresting with the Air Force over the tanker deal since 2001, when he spotted a $30 billion earmark for Boeing in a defense appropriations bill and argued that the contract should have been competitively bid. In 2004, McCain again helped scuttle a contract deal and exposed improper dealings between a top Air Force official and Boeing.

But the relationships that McCain has developed with lobbyists for Airbus cast a dark shadow over his good government image. Despite McCain's claim that he never weighed in for or against anybody that competed for the contract, McCain has received over $14,000 from EADS employees—more than any other member of Congress. In addition, many of McCain’s top advisers lobbied for EADS to win the Air Force contract.

Watch the video.