If Newt Gingrich runs for the GOP presidential nomination, he will need to do some aggressive outreach to Hispanic voters. The former House speaker apologizedWednesday — in Spanish! on YouTube! — for calling bilingual education the "language of living in a ghetto." But it’s not as if his earlier comments were off the cuff. They came in a Saturday speech to the National Federation of Republican Women: "The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. . . . We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
-
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in. -
Contact us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Chas on Fairness Doctrine baloney
- Chas on Fairness Doctrine baloney
- Jed on Open thread 11/22
- BlueJay on Public was correct to be concerned about Kline
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/22
- BlueJay on Open thread 11/22
- BlueJay on Fairness Doctrine baloney
- Regular on Open thread 11/22
- BlueJay on Fairness Doctrine baloney
- Wahine_Tara on Open thread 11/22
15 Comments
As much as I like Gingrich speaking or debates, he has the uncanny ability to insert his foot in his mouth with blind accuracy.
Peggy Hill could give Newt lessons in speaking Spanish.
That’s one of the most unintentionally funny things I’ve seen in a long time.
In Quebec, Canada, it is illegal to answer any business phone in English.You have to answer the phone in French.I don’t agree with such over-reaching controls, in any country, but I think Newt’s point is a good one:Those Hispanics that want to get out of the ghetto should learn English!An “enabler” is someone who assists or allows destructive behavior in others. Liberalism, if it tells immigrants that they do not have to conform to our language or laws, is aiding in self-destructive behavior.There are many Hispanic groups that reject American values, protest against the use of English and generally want to take over large sections of the United States.The lunatic fringe of Hispanic Immigrants must be countered by someone.Again, is it your point that we should encourage immigrants to STAY in the ghetto?Where is the compassion in that?
Run, Newt, run!
Funny thing is, I fundamentally agree with Newt’s position. This “liberal” believes that we SHOULD replace much of what passes as bilingual education (actually monolingual non-English) with total immersion English classes. After all, if a guy comes to my door and wants to shovel the snow off my driveway he needs to be able to communicate with me. And, while I am multi-lingual none of my languages happen to be Spanish. So, just as it made sense for my Japanese neighbors in LA to learn English so it does here.
That said, Newt sure has a horrible way of putting things.
and when Gingrich called Spanish the language of the getto the crowd cheered. When rep. Tancredo Col. talked shit on Miami culture the Cuban threatened him with death if he came to Miami Cubans generally support republicans, but not if they alienate them.
Tomas Paine,
Indeed. This just shows how perilous is the GOP’s attempt to stake out a path between nativist sentiments and the need to minister (or to “service”) a well-connected and politically powerful minority. I frankly don’t think they’ve got the smarts to thread this particular needle.
Nice handle, by the way.
They don’t speak Spanish in the ghetto. Hell most ghetto people don’t even speak good English much less a foreign language. Maybe he meant “barrios” and not “ghettos”.
Nobody cares about Miami Cubans. They are becoming a political non factor in Florida because of the changing demographics there. There are more Jews in Florida than Cubans.
“Maybe he meant “barrios” and not “ghettos”.”
At least, that would have made some sense. Shut up, Newt.He’s right about the immersion part. It’s for their own good, not mine. I already speak English. I don’t speak Spanish and if I am going to hire them, I have to be able to speak to them.
I am in my 50’s; I remember as far back as grade school that you can study two different languages, French or Spanish.Now days, is it somewhat odd that the schools were pushing this as a study back then, make me wonder how long ago that the NAFTA was planned.
French used to be the International Language, it switched to English for purposes of Air Traffic Control and Foreign Relations.
Spanish was taught, because a large portion of the U.S. spoke Spanish, the South West and Puerto Ricans, etc.
Also, we have Mexico to our immediate south and French Canadians to our immediate North.
I don’t think teaching those two languages had anything to do with the pre-cursors of NAFTA.
Cabron.
My teenage daughter speaks French (from school) but when we were in Canada I did not see a single person speaking it although the highway signs were in both French and English. Everybody there I know speaks English.
As if anyone truly gives a rat’s ass about anything Gingrich has to say.