Posted on 05/19/2006 1:24:24 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
HOUSTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush has long opposed making English the country's national language, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Friday, the day after the Senate voted to do so.
The vote came in an amendment to proposed legislation overhauling U.S. immigration law and directed the government to "preserve and enhance" the role of English. Opponents said it could affect the status of some multilingual services offered by government organizations.
Adding to the confusion, the Senate also adopted a softer amendment calling English the "unifying language" of the United States. Senators take both versions into negotiations over a final bill with the U.S. House of Representatives.
Gonzales did not directly address Bush's position on the controversial amendment because the Senate has not yet voted on the whole bill. But he said that Bush has in the past rejected such efforts.
"The president has never supported making English the national language," Gonzales said after meeting with state and local officials in Texas to discuss cooperation on enforcement of immigration laws.
He said Bush has instead long supported a concept called "English-Plus," believing that it was good to be proficient in more than one language.
"English represents freedom in our country and anybody who wants to be successful in our country has a much better chance of doing so if they speak English," Gonzales said. "It is of course a common language."
But, Gonzales said, "I don't see the need to have laws or legislation that says English is the national language."
While visiting Arizona on Thursday to press his plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border spoke of the need to unite Americans.
"We've got to honor the great American tradition of the melting pot," Bush said. "Americans are bound together by shared ideals and appreciation of our history, of respect for our flag and ability to speak the English language."
Intervening in a recent furor over a Spanish-language version of the national anthem released by Latin pop stars, Bush said that the "Star-Spangled Banner" should be sung in English.
The United States currently has no official language and the amendment was showing signs of further inflaming an already incendiary issue, with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada calling it "racist."
I have no idea why he is so out of touch with the people on this issue.
Meine Brout is aus Frankfurt a Ma (my best Frankfurter)
LOL
Opposing English as our national language is a stroke of genius by Bush! (don't want to be under suspicion that I'm a Bush Basher).
"I'm starting to oppose Bush more and more these days."
You know, I am just so .... disappointed... in President Bush. I am not going to BASH him, and I will do all I can in my personal power to keep the dems out,.. but doesn't he even listen, even a teensy weeny bit, to the vast majority of the American people?
He just seems so out of the loop, with ANYTHING having to do with illegal immigration and the consequences this scourge is having on OUR America.
This whole thing has left me so troubled and fearful of what is going to be the America my grandchildren live in.
pattyjo
because they had a reason to integrate and learned to speak english.
The liberal, politically correct policies in this country now states that the US needs to integrate to the immigrants, not the other way around.
AG Gonzales, an NCLR (La Raza) award recipient, and highest law enforcement official of this nation, speaking out of turn?
I'm shocked. or maybe not.
Ya never know where some folks loyalties lie these days..
"Hey, why is my approval rating at -70?"
Really??? The one day I miss him......elaborate more!!!
Can't wait til Howlin gets here, can you. Suck up. LOL
Does it matter? As long as the flood of non-English speaking aliens continues (with the tacit approval of the President and the Senate), it doesn't matter what the "official language" is...more and more ballots, government business, television programs, etc. will be in Spanish...and more and more will Americans feel like they're living in a foreign country
I have to say, at least the President is less hypocritical than the Senate on this one
First I have heard of English+... but I guess it never came up before now.
This is from his Attorney General-----it's not hearsay from a cocktail party. The fact that it's coming from Gonzales suggests that it's a trial balloon. It reflects Bush's true feelings, but if it completely blows up in his face he can still back off from it.
"Did you happen to catch any of Rush today? He spoke very harshly about the leadership that we have today. It was not kind. "
Rush, Coulter and Malkin are faux conservatives who should be banned from Free Republic! We don't need those trolls here!
The President might toss a small bone to the base here.
Finally someone said what I believe!
/sarcasm/
Good point, I lost count of how many amendments have and are still to be debated and voted on as part of this latest Senate production.
You took the words right out of my mouth! Is this for real or is it a sick joke???
Based on the number of responses so far, we should go well over. It is amazing how a Reuters article, quoting someone other than the POTUS, is raising such a kerfuffle.
In these waning days of this senescent body politic, it is hard to recall (or learn) that for most of those 200 years, great swatches of common ground were understood to go without saying. English as a de facto "official language" was one of those unspoken but broadly understood cultural facts of life.
The fact that sadly, little or nothing now "goes without saying" is a direct measure of the decline and self-destruction of the American community.
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