“If they can’t understand the English language, then, of course, they shouldn’t be citizens”

Maybe its just me, after all I don't give a shit what Tom Tancredo has to say. But this kind of thinking by a US lawmaker is outrageous. I believe his statements are just the tip of the iceberg, there are many others from his party, and sadly some of our's, who feel the same way. But this statement alone is not the worst of it. Their type of reasoning is why nothing can be done about poverty, healthcare and other programs for the less fortunate people in this country. It is why years after the fact that Katrina victims are still suffering. I could go on and on but what good would it do? Unless these so-called leaders have some kind or miraculous awakening to the plight of their fellow human beings, we will have to live with the status quo.
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Tancredo asserts that Univision viewers are unlikely to vote
By Klaus Marre | Posted 12/11/07 4:49 PM
December 11, 2007
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/tancredo-asserts-that-univision-viewers-are-unlikely-to-vote-2007-12-11.html

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) criticized his fellow GOP presidential hopefuls for pandering to Hispanics and asserted Tuesday that those watching Sunday’s Spanish-language debate are unlikely to vote.

Tancredo is the only GOP candidate who skipped the Univision debate that was simulcast in Spanish. He blasted his colleagues for appearing, saying the only audience that matters is people who speak English.

“If they can’t understand the English language, then, of course, they shouldn’t be citizens,” Tancredo said on Fox News. “They shouldn’t be voting. And we shouldn’t be pandering to them.”

The lawmaker raised the question of to whom such a Spanish-language debate is supposed to appeal.

“Supposedly, not the people that are going to vote at all, because if you are a citizen in this country, if you’re an immigrant who has come here and has become a citizen and therefore eligible to vote, you’re supposed to, by law, know and can comprehend the English language,” Tancredo said.

This is hugh!11111!!!1111 I'm series!!2!!@11112$($@$#

NGU.

And no one at the RNC or GOP has publicly condemned his statements.

Oh well, if they don't want Hispanics to vote for them, more votes for us.

Who mangles -- and doesn't appear to understand -- the English language ...

The GOP will not be running on "fear" this year.

This will be the campaign of "hate and divisiveness".

The fear of them taking jobs, the fear of them diluting the white gene pool, the fear of their culture and the fear of them speaking a different language.

But in the end, hispanics will get tired of their crappy status and the whole issue will foment hate and divisiveness amongst the races...

A poll out shows conservative Hispanics are leaving the GOP in droves.

Only 14% agree with Repugs, while almost 50% agree with Democrats.

:eyes:

There are a few exceptions, but... (I looked it up, as I had no idea)

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=12e596981298d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=96719c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

"Language
Applicants for naturalization must be able to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language. Applicants exempt from this requirement are those who on the date of filing:

*
have been residing in the United States subsequent to a lawful admission for permanent residence for periods totaling 15 years or more and are over 55 years of age;
*
have been residing in the United States subsequent to a lawful admission for permanent residence for periods totaling 20 years or more and are over 50 years of age; or
*
have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, where the impairment affects the applicant’s ability to learn English."

You can be a citizen of this country and not speak it. Hell, Idiot George would be lucky to make a passing grade in English at the level my KIDS are at.

FTR, I feel that people SHOULD be able to speak the language of the country they live in: when I lived in Germany (9 years total), I learned to speak German. My wife is German, lives in the USA, and she speaks English.

'"if you’re an immigrant who has come here and has become a citizen and therefore eligible to vote, you’re supposed to, by law, know and can comprehend the English language,” Tancredo said.'

I look at citizenship in broader terms than racist Repuke congressmen I reckon.

Is that anyone who watches Univision are Hispanics who don't vote.

It's subtle racism.

1790 only white male adult property-owners have the right to vote. Then all these pesky changes got in the way....
1810 Last religious prerequisite for voting is eliminated.
1850 Property ownership and tax requirements eliminated by 1850. Almost all adult white males could vote
1855 Connecticut adopts the nation's first literacy test for voting. Massachusetts follows suit in 1857. The tests were implemented to discriminate against Irish-Catholic immigrants.
1870 The 15th Amendment is passed. It gives former slaves the right to vote and protects the voting rights of adult male citizens of any race.
1889 Florida adopts a poll tax. Ten other southern states will implement poll taxes.
1890 Mississippi adopts a literacy test to keep African Americans from voting. Numerous other states—not just in the south—also establish literacy tests. However, the tests also exclude many whites from voting. To get around this, states add grandfather clauses that allow those who could vote before 1870, or their descendants, to vote regardless of literacy or tax qualifications.
1915 Oklahoma was the last state to append a grandfather clause to its literacy requirement (1910). In Guinn v. United States the Supreme Court rules that the clause is in conflict with the 15th Amendment, thereby outlawing literacy tests for federal elections.
1924 Indian Citizenship Act grants all Native Americans the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote in federal elections.
1944 The Supreme Court outlaws "white primaries" in Smith v. Allwright (Texas). In Texas, and other states, primaries were conducted by private associations, which, by definion, could exclude whomever they chose.
1957 The first law to implement the 15th amendment, the Civil Rights Act, is passed. The Act set up the Civil Rights Commission—among its duties is to investigate voter discrimination.
1965 The Voting Rights Act protects the rights of minority voters and eliminates voting barriers such as the literacy test. The Act is expanded and renewed in 1970, 1975, and 1982.

My guess is they do-right or wrong.

Dont blame me, blame voters- or show me contrary data- that a majority of voters strongly disagree with this general idea.

I'm willing to bet the answer is no.

I was thinking the other day about how I would love to see Tancredo make a third-party run in '08. I think there is a good chance that the Repug candidate will not be xenophobic enough to be to his liking, especially if it's Huckabee, Giuliani, or McCain. A lot of 'pugs think Tancredo is nuts, I'm sure, but I think there are a good number of "conservatives" to whom a candidate with his kind of anti-immigrant platform (I could imagine him running as an "American Conservative" or something like that) would appeal, and him running third-party could really hurt the Repug candidate. Anyway, I'm not sure if there is much of a chance of something like that happening, but Tancredo seems to have an ego and also to have an unnatural obsession with immigration issues, so I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

there are a good number of "conservatives" to whom a candidate with his kind of anti-immigrant platform...would appeal. I like your idea of Tancredo as a third party candidate. There are many as nuts as him and he could take their votes.

understanding it can be more difficult. The thing that bugs me about this, is that usually the people making these remarks ONLY know English themselves. They never bothered to learn a foreign language, which for most of us, is very, very difficult. I just can't make that kind of remark when I know how hard it is to learn another language. What is important is that they're taking classes and trying to learn, and that their children are in school being immersed into the English language.

Purely politically speaking. He wasn't going to get any new supporters out of the Univision debate, but he's gotten a hellova lot of publicity by not going - publicity that'll reach the brown-hater fringe.

who fought for the North in the Civil War ...or to my great-grandparents, both of whom spoke both German and English. Geez, of course the first generation will have difficulties learning English.

snowball's chance of being president.

but there many other racists out there who will back the real candidates.