Posted on 03/14/2012 1:47:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Puerto Rico primary is on Sunday and Rick Santorum made a quick campaign stop to the island.
While there, he told Puerto Ricans that if they want to pursue statehood, they should make English their primary language, Reuters reports.
Nevermind the fact that both English and Spanish are already the official languages of the territory. In an interview with El Vocero newspaper, Santorum said he does not support a state where English is not the primary language.
"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."
The only problem with Romney's plan is that no part in the U.S. constitution stipulates that English must be the primary language of a territory before it becomes a state.
The U.S. Census Bureau did report in 2010 that 80 percent of Puerto Ricans self-reported that thee speak English less than "very well."
Twenty delegates are up for grabs in Puerto Rico.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Apparently Santorum is unaware that PR has voted several times on statehood and they always vote no.
RE: Apparently Santorum is unaware that PR has voted several times on statehood and they always vote no.
I think his audience was the Puerto Rican party that is most affiliated with the Republicans. They MOSTLY want statehood, hence, his speech.
He probably said so because he met with the current Governor of PR, whose party favors statehood.
"If you would like to be turning in an article for publications please to be pushing #4 and reading your story out loud after the tone. Someone will be back with you after we are clearing these monkeys out of the office, thank you."
Maybe Rick and Fam was just down there for a day in the sunny beaches.
Actually, I misremembered the results of the last plebiscite; the votes were a bit over 50% for status quo, 47% for statehood, and only 2.5% for independence.
“They cannot vote in national elections except when residing on the mainland.”
...Which is exactly what they do when they pour into central Florida. Check out the 2010 census figures for details.
Actually, Spanish is now one of our official languages. Go into a Sears, for example. Everything is in English and Spanish.
Cholos ought to speak English then.
“The only problem with Romney’s plan is that no part in the U.S. constitution stipulates that English must be the primary language of a territory before it becomes a state.”
You meant Santorum’s plan, didn’t you?
(I know, they’re kind of interchangeable, aren’t they) LOL
Wish those delegates would go to Newt rather than Romney, but yeah, Santorum is not going to win there after a dumb statement like this.
What the heck is a Cholo?
While I strongly support English as a REQUIREMENT for US Citizenship in the 50 states (not sure about the other 7) and one who is very annoyed that people will come here and make no attempt to learn English, I found on my recent trip to PR it was no problem getting around via English only.
The vast majority of people I dealt with were bilingual and at no time acted like the snobby French when they were required to deal in their non-native language. Kudos to the people of PR.
Somebody who ought to be speaking English.
“At a time when Obamas greatest vulnerabilities are the economy, his leftist hyper-partisanship, and his disregard for the Constitution, Rick helps him by talking about something that is not even on the radar screen of the electorate. WTF?”
That’s how he rolls. (At least, thus far - contraception diversion being one example.)
It may. But it is going to win him votes in places which have a lot more delegates than Puerto Rico. See my link in item #4.
“Actually, I misremembered the results of the last plebiscite”
You mean you forgot the last public vote? LOL
You are wrong. Puerto Rico wants to become a State. They have a GREAT REpublican Governor now who has turned things around. He told us not to be afraid of a Puerto Rican State, you know, because we just figured it would be another Blue State. It’s worth a watch. If you haven’t heard about the new young Governor...check him out. He’s very charasmatic!
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