Lo siento, says Gingrich
-
- April
- 5
Class, the vocabulary word for today is ghetto.
Newt Gingrich dropped this word into a speech Saturday criticizing bilingual education and calling for English language immersion. He referred to Spanish as “the language of the ghetto.”
“The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. … We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto,” Gingrich said to a cheering audience, according to AP. The former House speaker was addressing the National Federation of Republican Women.
A videotaped apology followed — a bilingual one. He said had nothing but respect for the language, and that he was trying to make the point that Spanish-speakers should learn the language that will fully afford them America’s prosperity. “My word choice was poor but my point was simply this: In the United States it is important to speak the English language well in order to advance and have success,” he said.
He added in the Spanish version: “I know that my Spanish is not perfect but I am studying so it will be better.”
Mucha suerte.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 12:48 pm by Leah Rae.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Share and Enjoy: 
| 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Then again, was that an apology? Gingrich called it a clarification. You decide.
I think he was well-coached in that apology, clarification, whatever.