Spanish on the Senate floor?? This is sure to drive the Tancretoids nuts.
Yeah, there are a lot of xenophobes on FR.
A wise old Puerto Rican lady told me that she came to the 48 in 1950's. Although PR was a US commonwealth, she had to learn english. She said she learned english because she was in America not Puerto Rico. "Americans speak english, not spanish or portugese, or anything else. Are people crazy thinking they are going to change America into a spanish province?" She was old school.
She has no patience with the lazy, selfish, and unthankful legals/illegals that speak badly of Americans in their native tongue and then smile to their hosts/hostesses, "No habla inglais." She thinks it's all absurd and rude.
I think Gonzalez's speech was a political ploy. I cannot comment on the appropriateness of his, or Bush's, or Teresa Heinz Kerry's speeches. I don't know if it will set a precedent. I just remember what my old Puerto Rican friend said to me about speaking the mother tongue of the mother country, especially in official capacities.
Now, I work with hispanics and have gotten to know many personally. The illegals are about 50/50 pro-american. The pro-american illegals try to assimilate while the anti-american illegals stubbornly keep their culture totally. And the anti-americans abuse the system the most, all the while cursing our hospitality in spanish while they smile. They're getting theirs then heading back to their origin as "head boss man" which translated into american culture is similar to Tony Saprano.
Xenophobic? I hope your comment is in jest. The legal immigrants are probably the most xenophobic. Maybe the reason they are xenophobic is because they hear the anti-american BS in the native tongue, in the private moments we all miss.