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 think you are correct. Approaching 100 in 15 minutes and folks are just getting off work in the midwest.
No, Reid is not a complete moron, but he thinks most Americans are. And he has the NEA working on the rest of us.
And YOU believe Reuters is getting the story correct???
Bush is transforming into his Dad before our very eyes.
Not completely, but more than enough to no longer qualify as a "conservative".
I'm not really sure if it's arrogance, elitism, principle, or pandering, but his position on this, especially given his abysmal popularity right now, is unfathomable.
You can't lead if no one's following you.
Certainly not anymore. Anyone who can survive the rigid multi-cultural, diversified, PC-gone-wild atmosphere of those universities for four years with their sanity intact does have something on-the-ball though.
Was wir hier haben, ist eine Störung in Verbindung zu stehen.
FRom Cool Hand Luke..
What we have here, is a failure to communicate.
Numbering almost 43 million, German Americans are the largest self-reported ethnic group in the United States, as of the 2000 U.S. Census.
That's awesome. For sale where?
Varoom?
It will be a cold day in hell before I get carried away by anything in the MSM
Typical.
Since Clinton was the first black president did he ever push Ebonics?
All this story proves is that Reuters knows how to bait the borderphobes and get them all worked up to a point where they help the liberal cause.
Or in my best Bavarian
Ie wos nit!
sooooooooo
sooooooooo
Compassionate Conservatism isn't it?
I can just hear the pitter patter of little troll feet.
Transforming? These have been his stated policies for years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.