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Sunday, September 09, 2007

Democrats To Debate In Spanish

A trivial bit of pandering by politicians wishing to throw a bone to a growing racial demographic with a disturbing underlying theme.

MIAMI (AFP) — Eight Democratic presidential hopefuls on Sunday are to stage the first-ever televised Spanish language debate in a bid to garner votes from the rapidly growing bloc of Hispanic voters in the United States.

The candidates—only two of whom are fluent Spanish speakers—are not expected to answer questions in Spanish but their responses will be simultaneously translated for the live broadcast on the Univision network.

“The candidates will be speaking to the fastest-growing segment of American society. It’s a sign of respect,” said Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas who will co-moderate the debate along with colleague Jorge Ramos.

She and Ramos will ask questions in Spanish, and the candidates, wearing UN-style earpieces, will hear a translation in English.

I’m no xenophobe.  I think immigration is a wonderful thing for America, and would point out that one way to ease the amount of illegal immigration at the border would be to allow more legal immigration.  But one thing I’ve always held to be true is that in order for America to remain the great society it has become is for those who come here to integrate into our way of life.

The “human rights” crowd on the left talks about this a lot (though their take on it is a bit different than mine).  They talk about inclusion.  Unity.  Everyone working together.  And those are all things we should strive for, but one thing that keeps us from being united and inclusive are cultural barriers, with language differences being one of the most basic of those barriers.

Remember that America became America not by being Mexico, Cuba, France or England.  America became America by being...American.  And when we accept new people into our country we should expect them to become American as well (while simultaneously preserving their heritage, obviously).  But how do immigrants integrate with our society when they don’t, or won’t, speak the language all Americans speak?

They can’t.  There’s always going to be a barrier there until they do speak our language, and catering to those who don’t or won’t speak our language only reinforces that barrier.  And that’s what the Democrats are doing with this debate.  Reinforcing a cultural barrier between America’s Hispanic population and the rest of the country.

Now that probably goes hand-in-hand with their strategy as liberals live dividing Americans up into victim groups so that we can all be pandered to according to our cultural or racial background, but for people truly interested in a strong and united America it’s a dangerous thing.

Comments

Proof
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11161 comments
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¿Cómo se dice..."pandering fools”?



For any voter trying to choose between the two candidates for commander in chief, there is no better test than this: When American strategy in a critical theater was up for grabs, John McCain proposed a highly unpopular and risky path, which he accurately predicted could lead to success. Barack Obama proposed a popular and politically safe route that would have led to an unnecessary and debilitating American defeat at the hands of al Qaeda.

Frederick W. Kagan

Proof on September 9, 2007 at 04:19 pm

Multiculturism strikes again!!  What happens when ae nation doesn’t have a national language.


You don’t have to be a moron to be a liberal Democrat but it sure helps.

docdave on September 9, 2007 at 08:09 pm

2005116612292735055_rs.jpg

You see this knife? I’m gonna teach you to speak English with this fucking knife!

WOOF on September 10, 2007 at 04:44 am

Motivation. It works every time.


Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

2Hotel9 on September 10, 2007 at 04:51 am
Avatar for David

I have friends who are spanish, and they all have learned English out of “respect” for the country they live in. I myself am a democrat and am ashamed that noone has the guts to say “Learn English”. People that force me to speak another language or demand we speak thiers so we can get thier vote that is the biggest sign of disrepsect I can think of.

David on January 3, 2008 at 03:48 pm
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