ARLINGTON, VA — Today, McCain-Palin 2008 released its latest television ad, entitled “Tiny.” The ad highlights Barack Obama’s belief that Iran “doesn’t pose a serious threat” to us, despite their support of terrorism, their development of nuclear capabilities and their repeated threats to eliminate Israel. The ad is even more pertinent today as Haaretz reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy views Barack Obama’s Iran position as “utterly immature” and based on “formulations empty of all content.” The ad will air in key Florida markets.

However, “Tiny” was also released in August. If you would like to read about it, I reported about the ad here.

Furthermore, the French Embassy has denied the Haaretz report as “groundless.” The story relied on an unnamed Israeli government source who said Sarkozy made the comments in private. An employee of the embassy, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the subject, said, “We don’t understand where that information comes from. It certainly does not reflect what the president thinks.”

The embassy employee referred me to the following communiqué:

COMMUNIQUÉ FROM THE EMBASSY OF FRANCE IN THE UNITED STATES

The remarks attributed by the newspaper Haaretz to the president of the French Republic concerning Sen. Obama’s positions on Iran are groundless. To the contrary, the in-depth discussions between the president of the Republic and Sen. Obama on Iran during their meeting in Paris in July demonstrated a broad convergence of views on this issue. President Sarkozy and Sen. Obama agree to oppose Iran’s development of a military nuclear capability.

But at this late date, whether Sarkozy actually made these comments is of minimal importance to the McCain campaign.