Text 20262, 67 rader
Skriven 2006-05-20 14:50:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Harry
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Please keep shoving microphones in front of these fools.  This is great 
stuff.  


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http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060518-114129-1805r.htm

Reid calls language proposal racist
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May 19, 2006 


Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called a proposal to make English the 
official language "racist" on the Senate floor yesterday. 
    "This amendment is racist. I think it's directed basically to people 
who speak Spanish," the Democrat said during the already tense debate 
over immigration reform. 
    Moments later, the Senate approved the measure on a 63-34 vote. 
Virtually all Republicans were joined by 11 Democrats to approve the 
largely symbolic amendment. Immediately following that vote, the Senate 
approved a second amendment, declaring on a 58-39 vote that English is 
the "common and unifying language." 
    Such proposals enjoy overwhelming support among American voters. 
    A poll by Zogby International earlier this year found that 84 
percent of Americans say English should be the official language of 
government operations. The same poll found that 77 percent of Hispanics 
agree. 
    And it's a bipartisan issue, according to the poll, which found that 
92 percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats approve making 
English the country's official language. 
    Mr. Reid's charge of racism caused a stir of whispers in the Senate 
chamber and gallery, and Sen. James M. Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican 
who offered the amendment, was clearly offended. 
    As Mr. Reid continued his floor speech, an aide passed him a note on 
a folded sheet of yellow legal paper. After reading the note, the Nevada 
Democrat tried to clarify his remarks. 
    "Even though I feel this amendment is unfair, I don't in any way 
suggest that Jim Inhofe is a racist," Mr. Reid said. "I don't believe 
that at all. I just believe that this amendment has, to some people, 
that connotation -- not that he's a racist, but that the amendment is." 
    It's certainly not the first time that Mr. Reid has used stark 
language in the debate over immigration. 
    "Our federal wallet is stretched to the limit by illegal aliens 
getting welfare, food stamps, medical care and other benefits without 
paying taxes," he said in 1993. "These programs were not meant to entice 
freeloaders and scam artists from around the world." 
    Earlier this year, Mr. Reid confessed on the Senate floor that his 
anti-immigrant fervor "mostly lasted about a week or two" before his 
wife brought him around to the more open position he holds today. 
    But nearly a year after his "freeloaders" statement, Mr. Reid was on 
the Senate floor criticizing immigrants again and worrying about their 
cultural impact. 
    "We must reduce the annual admissions of legal immigrants to more 
moderate levels in order to provide for a better country -- both 
environmentally and socially -- in the years to come," Mr. Reid said, 
according to a June 16, 1994, report by States News Service. 
    When Mr. Inhofe took to the floor yesterday, he didn't address Mr. 
Reid over his charge of racism but did defend his proposal. 
    "I think it's an insult to Hispanics to say that we are not going to 
have English as the national language because you're not capable of 
operating and speaking and succeeding in a country like this," he said.


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