Redstate

is that there are a considerable number of normally Democrat voters who take exception to being called racists because they are unhappy about the present illegal alien mess.

The spinelessness and duplicity of our elected representatives has changed my mind.  A moderate no more!    

What else can we expect from the left? Whenever they can't support their arguement, they play the "race card". (And yet, it was their party that opposed equal rights in the '60s but that's another subject altogether).

I don't know how to post pics here, but this one seems to sum it up:

http://www.scottbomb.com/race_card.jpg

So this is an "open comment" to him:  Adam, I respect your views and especially your dedication to this party -- and more than anything else, your intellect.  Look candidly at the events in the Senate over the past couple of days and think twice about whether supporting the "moderates" on this issue is truly the principled and honest place to be.

In the immortal words of George Will, you can no more embarrass a Senator than a sofa.

Speaking English and Inhofe's amendment are the moderate position.  It's only in the upside-down, topsy-turvy world of identity politics that it seems extreme.  I want to recapitulate briefly my family's story:  my great-grandparents arrived here from Poland in the 1890s on a steamship and settled in a rural area of Massachusetts, where they became farmers, raised pigs, and sought to bring themselves up by their bootstraps and live the American dream -- without the benefit of government programs, mind you.  

My grandfather, who had a sixth-grade education and worked in the steel industry for most of his adult life, including helping to build a great deal of materiel for the war effort during WWII, was an exceptional man who married an exceptional woman.  Together, they insisted that their children learn English first and that Polish was only to be spoken in their house in informal situations.  They wanted no part of any "Polish-American" identity movement.  They stacked one dime on top of another and their three children graduated from the University of Massachusetts (dentistry), Johns Hopkins University (electrical engineering) and the University of Maryland (education.)  And none of them took a dime of government money to do it.

Learning a second language is an enriching experience but English was the lingua franca that allowed them to live and participate in the American dream.  We should give our immigrants the same chance to work hard and assimilate into this culture.  Harry Reid is an absolute moron, not to put too fine a point on it.

Me parece que el es simplemente un otro jefe Democratico loco!

You know the one

When the law is not on your side argue the facts;

When the facts are not on your side argue the law;

Any other time play the Race Card.

tremendously. But not as he wishes.

http://hunter.redstate.com/story/2006/5/19/9343/67590

My problem with an official language is that it puts the government in the position of saying what is and is not English.  Do we really want to have an American equivalent of the Académie française?  Do we really want to give congresscritters an excuse to have hearings about whether Ebonics constitutes part of English or not?

Now, a mandate banning the production of certain government documents in more than one language -- that I can get behind, especially if election ballots are included on that list of government documents.

into the statement and create a convenient, if amusing, strawman in the process. France may be alone among nations with an official language, and there are bunches of them, that has produced such an abomination. If you go to Germany and see billboards about das Baby you can be sure the Germans haven't gone this route.

No one is proposing that a certain form of English be considered "proper" only that government business be conducted in English.

This week in the Senate has done it for me.

Not that it will matter, but I emailed McCain to tell him I've working and voting against him in the primaries and the general election, if he runs for President, based on his support for this mess.

The stupidity and bad faith on display in the Senate with this bill is just mind-boggling.  I expect this from most Democrats, but from Republicans...  

If this gets past the House, I've had it.  

P.S.  This would seem a good time to recognize Reid's  contributions by naming the Yucca Mountain facility in his honor -  The Harry Reid Nuclear Waste Dump.  I'm sure the voter's in Nevada will appreciate it.

Leave out "Nuclear" and "Dum" and I'm with you .

Switch the U and N in "Nuclear"

The Harry Reid Unclear Waste Dump

Suppose I were a crook.

Suppose I were a Congressman.

But I repeat myself.

not bad at all.

Road Signs could read something like:

Exit 55 - Yucca - Harry Reid Waste & National Hot Air Balloon Park

Reid didn't say that speaking English was racist, as your headline implies. Nor does he suggest English is racist, as your analysis claims to debunk. He says the bill, and the motivation behind it, is racist. Is that an extreme statement? Maybe. But does he have a point? Yes. No one complains that signage in northern New England is bilingual, because we don't want French-speaking Canadians getting into car accidents. But signage in Spanish or other nonwhite foreign languages scares some folks. And this bill appeals to those who may react more apprehensively to a brown skinned person speaking their native language than a white foreigner.

Nowhere in this post or its comments is there a compelling public policy rationale for the Senate passing this bill. It's election-year pandering and a desperate attempt to distract from Iraq, the economy, Congressional scandal, and any other decision that Congress might make that would have a significant and beneficial effect on our daily lives. On the contrary, there are public health and economic benefits to having government forms, signs, and other government-produced text available in various languages.

Are there personal, academic, and economic benefits to speaking English. Of course. That's not debatable. But we don't legislate hours of sleep, a balanced diet, preschool, or other decisions that effect education and personal attainment. The argument that the Congress is doing this for the peoples' benefit rings hollow to me. Is the motivation behind this bill racist? Probably.

It's election-year pandering and a desperate attempt to distract from Iraq, the economy, Congressional scandal, and any other decision that Congress might make that would have a significant and beneficial effect on our daily lives

Since I'm sure you are suggesting that it is the Republicans who want this distraction, please explain why they would want to distract from this great economy.  I would also ask why you think they would want to ditract from our successes in Iraq but I think I know your answer.

By the way, if racist motivations are on the Republican side of the aile remind me again who fillibustered Miguel Estrada's nomination because he was hispanic.

Let me just say that appealing to racist (maybe better stated as xenophobic) instincts doesn't make someone a racist so much as an opportunist.

With real wages stagnating or dropping for most Americans, and job growth that's insufficient to keep up with demand, I think it's safe to say that those in power would not want to shine too much light on the true state of the economy.

As for Iraq, define success.

reading comprehension would really serve you well but I guess that is too much to hope for.

But signage in Spanish or other nonwhite foreign languages scares some folks. And this bill appeals to those who may react more apprehensively to a brown skinned person speaking their native language than a white foreigner.

Bzzzzt. Beyond being an extraordinarily racist statement, unsupported by any data whatsoever, the bill doesn't cover signage. It covers government interactions.

Nowhere in this post or its comments is there a compelling public policy rationale for the Senate passing this bill.

Bzzzzzzzt. Read the amendment, there is a link to it. The public policy rationale is spelled out.

On the contrary, there are public health and economic benefits to having government forms, signs, and other government-produced text available in various languages.

Sure, if your purpose is to consciously prevent the assimilation of immigrants and keep them locked up in barrios and ghettos and dependent on what ever Tammany Hall machine can deliver jobs and benefits.

Is the motivation behind this bill racist? Probably.

Bzzzzzt. Too many wrong answers in the allotted time. I'm trying to decided. Stupid? Racebaiter? Stupid? Racebaiter? Ah, what the heck one or the other is right. There are a lot of places where your two firing neurons will be appreciated.

Tchuss.

Is the motivation behind the bill racist? I doubt it. I think a LOT of Americans are sick and tired of the "bilingualism" that seems to be overtaking our society.

I work in sales and customer service. It can often be very difficult (and depending on locale, downright impossible) to get a job because I don't speak Spanish. Why the hell should I have to bend over backwards and learn the language of someone else who's in the country (legal or not) and refuses to learn our language?

If I were to move to France, I'd be expected to learn French (and I'd fell obligated to - it's called respect). What right would I have to demand that the population of a nation learn MY language just because I want to live in their country?

It has NOTHING to do with "race". People throw that word around to avoid the real arguement because they know they can't win it.

I have always used the example of moving to France. It has simply never occured to me to argue that one could move to another country and not learn the language and yet people are perfectly willing to make that argument here. I can only suppose that they have very little regard for their country.

please do not use that word again or I will be forced to report you!

I'll try to do better  :-)

Your talking points about the economy won't fly. We are at nearly full employment, there are plenty of jobs out there. Don't have data on real wages but nobody who I know has had their wages drop and consumer spending apppears fairly strong.  Keep Congress's paws off our money and the economy will continue to be strong.

Regarding success in Iraq how about the toppling of a dangerous dictator who supressed his own people and was a threat to the world, the establishment of a democracy in a region which has seen little of that for starters.  I for one am very bullish on what is going on over there.

All these points can be debated on a number of levels however, your earlier assertion that this is an intentional distraction is at best absurd.