I am genuinely shocked at what the president said today about "Nuestro Himno," the Spanish-language version of our National Anthem.
As awful a president as George W. Bush has been, I have always wanted to believe that there was something in his heart that would stop short of naked racism in pursuit of political advantage. Yes, I remember the John McCain "black baby" thing. Yes, I remember the shunning of the NAACP. But, this? I never thought I would see Bush make such a shameless capitulation to the racists in the GOP as he made today.
"One of the things that's very important is, when we debate this issue, that we not lose our national soul," Bush said. "One of the great things about America is that we've been able to take people from all walks of life bound as one nation under God. And that's the challenge ahead of us.""Our national soul" speaks only English?
A Spanish language version of the U.S national anthem, sung by Latin pop stars and dubbed "Nuestro Himno" ("Our Anthem"), hit the airwaves today.
Asked at the news conference whether the national anthem should also be sung in Spanish, Bush said without hesitation: "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English."
What a stupid argument to get drawn into. What a stupid, stupid position to take. This "controversy" over Nuestro Himno is no more real than the "controversy" over the War on Christmas or the War on Easter. It is a phony hysteria drummed up by conservatives who need something, anything, to rally the base in an election year. The War on Terror thing is spent. The gay-marriage thing is iffy. I guess Bush and the GOP have decided to bet the house on good, old-fashioned racism. The classics never go out of style.
Somebody nudge Ken Mehlman to make sure he's still breathing. If this doesn't give him a stroke, nothing will. The Republican Party is now officially the anti-Hispanic party. Its status has been ratified by none other than the President of the United States himself. Twenty years of work by the GOP to make inroads into the Hispanic community just got flushed down the toilet. It was one thing when it was only right-wing nutjobs like Tom Tancredo out there spewing this kind of garbage. When the official head of the party says it, it's a whole 'nother ballgame. The line is drawn, and George W. Bush has declared where he stands.
Don't get me wrong. I am overjoyed to witness the ultimate discrediting of the conservative movement, to watch it sink into the cesspool of history, choking on blood, bile and feces as it goes down. I am happy beyond words to see the president himself pounding nails into the lid of his party's coffin. It is only right and proper that this vile social experiment should meet its end naked and shivering with fear, clothed in nothing but shame.
However, for some reason, and despite everything, I realize now that I always wanted to believe that George W. Bush was better than this. I know now that he is not, and I am disappointed beyond the telling of it.
3 comments:
But! He's not a racist because he was willing to sell port terminals to the UAE!
Sorry for the double post.
But when someone comes at me with:
"This is America. You speak English!"
The obvious retort is:
"The is America. You speak whatever language you want to speak."
There are people who were born in the US lived their entire lives and died without speaking a lick of English. There are still people who live in certain communities where English is not the language spoken and some people still can't speak a word. Two that immediately come to mind are Cajuns in S. Louisiana and Pennsylvania Dutch.
If you don't want to learn English don't complain when you can't understand what people are saying. Otherwise learn English.
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