And then we fucking invaded a bunch of other countries, stole their land, and gave them citizenship. That citizenship wasn't contingent on their learning English, and for a few hundred years, there were fewer English speakers in the Southwest than Spanish speakers.

Yes, English is the common and unifying language of the US, as an accident of fucking history, and not because of the superiority of the language or the people who grow up speaking it. Fucking forget about it already, and go out and shake the hand of someone who's bilingual in English and something else, cause when it comes to Americans, the thing I'm most ashamed of isn't that not everybody speaks English, but that almost everybody who grows up speaking it never learns to speak anything else.

I think you might have other things to be most ashamed of, Gital.

Sheesh. Thomson's got manure for his brains.

And why do they persist in the delusion that they even have a chance, when 2/3rds of America wants out of Iraq YESTERDAY?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/story/0,,2096379,00.html

Can I get a "that's what she said"?

and as far as english, i think it is good for a nation to have a national language for practical reasons. english would seem to make the most sense. but i would only proceed under two conditions:

1. that it was phased in over years (like 20 or so); and
2. that americans were required to speak two languages fluently (and i don't mean two years of high school spanish "fluent").

i think this is both fair, practical, and beneficial to americans. and that it would never be implemented in such a manner.

"Hi, I am a white old rich man. I want this country back to how it was! I want white rich men to be the only people who can own land and vote. I want to be able to beat/kill any woman or minority that pisses me off. I want to be able to sleep with whores and/or children all I want with no consequence. Yes, I like how the founders had this country!"

GODDAMN IT I HATE THEM ALL SO MUCH!!!!
Seriously. Thats what they want, and they use all this "values and virtues" and/or "what the 'framers' wanted..." which is BS.

I realize I am preaching to the choir, but where is Proud Gay Republican on this????

'tain't just white males, though - it's upper-class white males. They mistreated poor white men as much as they did women or brown folks.

Am I the only one who finds it somewhat ironic that the most nativist candidate is only like third-generation American, with a strongly "ethnic" name and grandparents who still speak the mother tongue? I'll bet you anything he celebrates Columbus Day, too - but heaven forfend a Mexican-American celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Why is it okay for some of us to be fairly recent immigrants with non-English speaking grandparents (my own grandparents emigrated from Galway) with our own celebrations and ethnic "heritage," but it's some sort of betrayal for Mexican-Americans to do the same? Why doesn't Tancredo just come right out and admit that he thinks European immigrants - even the ones who don't speak English - are just peachy, but we don't want no more damn brownfolks!