Conservative Minority Outreach Initiative … GO!
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) delivered his opening statement in Spanish at a hearing on Thursday about an English-only bill proposed by House Republicans.
Republicans at the panel said Conyers’ speech actually supported their point.
“I would ask the gentleman in the interest of fairness here. Would you repeat that in Yiddish and Vietnamese and French, please,” Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) said after Conyers’ speech.
Because I’m sure Franks would’ve understood him had he made his statement in Kike-speak, Gook-tongue, or Frog-croak. I’m sure all the Hispanic voters Rep. Franks tried to court by not including their language in his ill-born list won’t notice that Rep. Conyers was delivering his statement in Spanish. It saddens me that the campaign against The Aborted Lesbian Walrus may be one of the smarter propositions conservatives forward this week.
Then it makes me really happy.
Rep. Franks:
French!
Really? YOU SOCIALIST!
Yiddish!
Isn’t that like Hebrew? And isn’t that what’s spoken in Israel, with it’s nationalized health care?
Really? YOU SOCIALIST!
And Vietnamese!
Aren’t those the people we fought a war against, so that the domino’s didn’t topple onto our West Coast?
Really? YOU COMMUNIST!
Actually, in any language, HE’S A DICK!!!
I’m mostly saddened by this story, because I feel like Rep. Conyers missed a golden chance to say some memorable things to Rep. Franks in French.
Or tell the schmuck he is a meshuggeneh in Yiddish
If he’s going to answer in Yiddish, he could do far better than that. “Gai kakhen afeny’m” would suit me fine.
So, nu,
Trasna ort féin!isn’t good enough?As someone who’s half-Irish, half-Polish Jew, I’m going to sit this one out.
I’ve never heard Yiddish with an Irish brogue. Brogue makes even a grocery list sound interesting.
I was more intrigued by Erse with a Yiddish accent
Pog mo thon, ye gombeen shcelp of a hoor, ye. That’s your actual French there.
They had a big fight over this, when New Mexico was admitted as state. New Mexico has both English and Spanish as official languages. Just another example of how conservatives want to repeal the 20th Century . . .
Perhaps Rep. Conyers should have responded to Rep. Franks in an authentic French accent.
no, no, no, THIS is an authentic French accent
I fart in Rep. Franks’ general direction. Avec plaisir!
I imagine your mind boggles a lot.
Here’s what Franks said:
Yes, congressional debates being conducted in multiple languages is why we need an “English only” bill. Stop the madness.
Because there’s no way for people who speak different languages to communicate with each other, we must embrace a baldly nativist plan to only speak one language. Great idea! Has no holes in it, not a one!
If Swiss history has taught us anything, it is that polyglot societies inevitably end in bloodshed, poverty, and oppression.
Eh,
I’ll depart from my usual liberal positions and say English only bills have a point, sort of. While Switzerland and its incredibly decentralized canton system have been fairly successful, linguistic barriers have usually created a good deal of problems, even in relatively successful countries. One only has to look “up” and note the two solitudes. That doesn’t of course mean, one has to exterminate Spanish in the US…
I’ve checked — no thanks to the TPM piece, which couldn’t be bothered to provide relevant links — and there are actually no genocide provisions anywhere in the bill.
I wonder if some of the commenters here realize that (while there are exceptions) demonstration of English skills is actually a requirement for naturalization.
“Nothing would make the point better than if we conducted all of our debates in different languages and I suppose that might make the case for this bill better than anything else, if it ever happened but for this one time, but it doesn’t, because everyone pretty much learns English ASAP or at least within a generation anyway, thereby demonstrating the urgency of this bill above all else.”
St. Paul explains why the rightwingnuts are wrong (1 Corinthians 12). . .
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
Next you’ll try telling me that Rome was a multi-lingual society, and that Jesus didn’t speak English.
Or Latin and likely not Hebrew (Aramaic was the common language in Palestine at that time).
Saul of Tarsus . . . isn’t that a Jewish name?
There’s nothing that says “libertarian” more than rushing to the defense of a nativist crank like Trent Franks when he tries to force people into using a specific language in order to deal with the government.
The libertarian idea is making it so that people don’t have to deal with the government.
Because free-market firefighters worked so well in the past.
Of the many very very stupid things you have said, this is the most recent.
Your sequitur she is non. Your head she is up your ass (as usual).
But the reality is, English only bills only serve to create an artificial separation between US citizens who do not speak English at the proficiency as a native born speaker and their government.
Why does Franks hate Americans so much?
The scourge of bilingualism must be defeated!
We must invade Canada!
This Republican House’s actions are so dynamic and unexpected. What’s next? A flag burning amendment?
The Tea Party Revolution is gaining momentum!
Luckily the tea party is a responsible movement focused on deficit reduction which will get the GOP away from the culture war! (Every MSM TP story, 2009-2011).
National language?
What is this, France?
Trent’s a straight-talking dreamboat. A dollhouse!
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