Santorum Tells Puerto Ricans to Adopt English for Statehood

townhall ^ | 3/15/12 | Kevin Glass

[Skeez]

Campaigning in Puerto Rico today, Rick Santorum said that Puerto Ricans needed to adopt English as their official language if they wanted to make a serious push for U.S. statehood. Santorum is in Puerto Rico making his pitch for the GOP's primary on Sunday.

"Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law," Santorum said. "And that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states with more than one language such as Hawaii but to be a state of the United States, English has to be the principal language."Reuters goes on to report that neither the U.S. Constitution nor any federal law requires that a state speak English. Some states have established English as an official language anyway. To be charitable to Santorum, he did say that English should be the "principal" language, not something to be legally required. Puerto Ricans typically learn English in high school, but census data shows only about 30% of Puerto Ricans rate their ability to speak English "very well."

Santorum's presence in Puerto Rico may seem odd - governor Luis Fortuno has endorsed his rival Mitt Romney, and the candidate perceived as a moderate has won massive portions of the electorate in the past few years - John McCain, Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush all won massive majorities there.

The people of Puerto Rico go to the polls on Sunday to vote in their GOP primary. Puerto Rico awards a small number of delegates - twenty-three - but more than some small states like Delaware.

[skeeter]

Why can't you... 'other than Rick'... supporters post civil discourse without resorting to attacking the candidate with ridicule

LOL. There're some here who have completely lost it.

I don't know how anyone else can take them seriously on ANY issue after their performance during this primary season.

[bigdaddy45]

No, it upsets me that I have to choose between a guy who developed the model for Obamacare in Massachusetts, a guy who lost his own state by 18% and clearly doesn’t understand a few of our most basic laws, and a guy who’s on wife #3 and bounces around like a yo-yo, contradicting himself on a nearly daily basis. Oh, and Ron Paul. THATS what upsets me.

[Lazlo in PA]

BWAHAHAHAHA. Still carrying Milt Romneys water on this discredited line of BS. If you can understand numbers, take a look at the actual results and see exactly who was the one benefiting from Rat sabotage. It wasn’t Rick.

http://www.republicanmichigander.blogspot.com/2012/03/did-100000-democrats-actually-cross.html

I am sure you will keep selling this spin though because you are a one note “I Hate Rick, I love Romney” type of poster.

[bigdaddy45]

I know I sound like a broken record.... but as a two term incumbent Senator, in 2006 Santorum lost by nearly a 3:2 margin to Casey. That is a butt-kicking of epic proportions. The worst loss by an incumbent Senator in 26 years. And you honestly believe he has a prayer in a National election?

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Taking cheap personal attacks at people is all you have to go on. So I won’t reply to you for any reason, from here on out. Have a great year.

[The Shrew]

I wish more Christian Conservatives could listen to the words of our Savior:

Matthew: 16:1 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." ESV

We are not supposed to be "of" the world but we are supposed to understand the world as it is. I thought Rev. Mike Huckabee epitomized the lobotomized Christian politician. Smarmy, Elmer Gantry-ish, fast-talking, concern-troll that took the caricature of Christians to an appallingly bad level to get votes and gull the people.

Now we have the Santorum voters who are bound and determined to punish Gingrich for his past infidelities and maintain the purity of their vote. Bah Humbug.

TS

[skeeter]

Rick should talk about the economy, the price of gas, balance of trade, monetizing the debt, Iran, ...the list goes on and on; but it doesn't (and shouldn't ever) include discussing why a traditionally Hispanic island's inhabitants should learn to speak English

What should Rick do if asked questions that do not concern the economy, price of gas, etc. ignore them? Plead the 5th?

If you accept that a candidate should honestly attempt to answer questions put to him, how should he have dealt with what surely was a question apparently concerning many in PR, which is where he was campaigning?

There're are some poster here who would criticise Santorum for standing during the national anthem, but as another poster asked, what really was wrong with the answer he gave here?

[No Surrender No Retreat]

Yes and they love all those government entitlement programs though. Especially, SSI,and Social Security Disability.

[No Surrender No Retreat]

Do you really think he had the Hispanic vote in the first place?

[skeeter]

I wish more Christian Conservatives could listen to the words of our Savior

Heal yourself.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

AKA the “Holy roller” vote. Rapidly in decline, due to their own hypocrisy.

[Yaelle]

Funny how the Newt people here are spinning off their axis with Santorum making this statement, yet the ex candidate Newton was pushing for English as the official language when he was running for Pres. I can’t wait for their strained logic on how the two are different.

---

They never see how slavish they are. I think it was a sound bite he didn’t need to have said, but neither do I wish for our candidate to pander to Hispanics. Man, I was incredulous when newt starting sobbing for 20 minutes about how illegals have precious grandmas and we must give these grandmas love. I stand with Santorum and acknowledge hes not perfect.

[livius]

Well, for one thing that he seems to think the Constitution or some other law contains a federal mandate for English (it doesn’t) and, for another, PR already has a law making English one of its two official languages (the other, of course, being Spanish, which is logical). Most people in PR, except for people out in the hills, speak English, and many of them speak it as a first language.

This was an unnecessary thing to say, and he obviously did it to pander to what he perceives to be the “base” without knowing a single thing about how things actually operate in Puerto Rico. And since he knows nothing about economics, monetizing the debt, Iran, the balance of trade or the price of gas, what else was he supposed to talk about?

[The Shrew]

Heal yourself.

Well, bless your little heart.

[Lazlo in PA]

Taking cheap personal attacks at people is all you have to go on.

Cheap personal shots from me? From this very thread:

"AKA the “Holy roller” vote. Rapidly in decline, due to their own hypocrisy."- PSYCHO-FREEP

Holy Roller vote? That isn't an insult to religious people at all, is it. Maybe you should look in the mirror when discussing cheap personal attacks. You obviously have been shut down by my inserting undeniable facts to counter you incorrect post that Rick won states because of Rat sabotage.

[beandog]

I’m a Newt supporter but I 100% agree with Sen. Santorum on this. Unlike some people around here, I do not hate Sen. Santorum, and even if he isn’t currently my candidate, I’m not going to be a hypocrite and pretend I don’t agree with him when he says something that is right.

[skeeter]

Since neither you nor I know exactly what kind of question he was responding to any conclusions we draw from his response are pure speculation.

Its become a fill in the blanks exercise and posters are simply using this instance to further validate their own bias. Nothing more.

[Dr. Sivana]

Now we have the Santorum voters who are bound and determined to punish Gingrich for his past infidelities and maintain the purity of their vote.

That is way too strong a generalization. You can check my past posts, and not only do I NOT attack Newt, but I don't even tell him to quit, and I also tell other Santorum supporters to support whoever in their state is best situated to beat Romney.

I will even go on the record to say, as a Catholic, his two annulments seem legit (#1 predator high school teacher, #2 divorcee) on the surface. The cheating is not OK, but I am willing to consider it old news, and not of primary importance except as to how it affects his electibility.

Blackelk shares this approach, as do too many other Santorum supporters who are more concerned with beating Romney than with trashing Newt to describe us as a whole in those words.

[Dr. Sivana]

Now we have the Santorum voters who are bound and determined to punish Gingrich for his past infidelities and maintain the purity of their vote.

That is way too strong a generalization. You can check my past posts, and not only do I NOT attack Newt, but I don't even tell him to quit, and I also tell other Santorum supporters to support whoever in their state is best situated to beat Romney.

I will even go on the record to say, as a Catholic, his two annulments seem legit (#1 predator high school teacher, #2 divorcee) on the surface. The cheating is not OK, but I am willing to consider it old news, and not of primary importance except as to how it affects his electibility.

Blackelk shares this approach, as do too many other Santorum supporters who are more concerned with beating Romney than with trashing Newt to describe us as a whole in those words.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

You are obviously full of yourself, like most juvenile playground bullies ......go taunt someone else.......yawn......