Nice job, Chimp -- you've just lost the Hispanic vote

[johnfunk]

So the National Anthem should only be sung in English?

Say buh-bye to the Hispanic vote in '06 and '08.

I hope that sound bite gets played over and over and over on Spanish-language TV and radio.

[amitten]

1. I'm curious...are you Hispanic?

Just wondering where you're coming from.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Does it matter?

I don't see how him being Hispanic makes his statement any less true. There's no way that doesn't have a big impact on Hispanic voters, especially coupled with Republicans pushing for deportation.

[neuvocat]

8. Agreed.

For the record I'm not hispanic but these people help to make the U.S. into the country it is. Let them sing the national anthem in Spanish.

[amitten]

14. I agree. n/t

[amitten]

13. It doesn't matter...I'm just purely curious to hear a Hispanic point

of view on it. Because I truly do hope it loses Bush some Hispanic votes.

[Warpy]

5. I'm coming from NM

where the Hispanos have been here far longer than any WASP has and they still teach their children to speak Spanish at home.

He didn't have a whole lot of their vote to begin with, and he's blown what little he had.

They're proud of their heritage and their language here, and rightly so.

[johnfunk]

15. Let's put it this way...

I attended a recent ceremony in NYC's Chinatown, where the National Anthem was sung in Cantonese by close to 300 people. I'm not Chinese, but it made me feel proud to be an American. My ex-girlfriend is Canadian, and knows both the French and English words to her National Anthem.

Bush pandered to the Whites-only crowd with his answer. The message: he hates Americans who don't speak English.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. He's desperately trying to cling to his base

of racists, I think.

BTW, I'm not Hispanic, but I have Hispanic cousins. I have no problem singing the National Anthem in Spanish, English, or whatever you want to sing it in.

[El Supremo]

4. They made up new words.

If what I read in the paper is what you are referring to. But still, I don't care. It is just another flag waving bunch of BS from the right.

[redqueen]

7. Yeah, that's kinda necessary...

you know, so you can sing along and not have to be shoving words in where they don't fit and stuff. I forget the technical terms for it, but trust me, it'd sound awful and be harder to sing if they didn't alter it a bit.


The spirit is what counts, and that's the same.

[RedSpartan]

11. Your last statement is spot-on.

I know it's cliche, but as a "nation of immigrants" (exception for Native Americans, of course), I think the anthem, sung with spirit in a language other than english, expresses a certain pride and appreciation that many of us who are not first generation Americans don't understand or take for granted. I like it.

[redqueen]

21. Actually the American Indians were descendents of immigrants.

They crossed the land bridge from Asia.

Seeing such a racist attitude bloom like this is beyond disturbing.

[RedSpartan]

23. Quite right

I think I read once that its estimated they came over that land bridge some 23,000 years ago. The original immigrants, indeed.

Hearing Bush say the anthem "should" be sung in english is absurd. It may have originally been written in english, but that doesn't dictate a necessity that that is how it should be sung. In my opinion, the way it "should" be sung is with pride, respect, and appreciation, and if that is done in another language, as I said above, I only think that adds to it.

[redqueen]

6. Canada can be multicultural, but we're overrun by racists.

Oh, how I loathe them.

If they can play their anthem in French and English, why can't we do it in Spanish and English? For goodness' sake... Spanish-speaking people have helped us fight wars, have enriched our country, and provide services without which we'd be crippled.

Screw the racists!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. Not that I disagree with the spirit of the post...

However, Canada was settled by both the British and French, meaning their roots lie specifically within those two cultures. It's a wee bit different here. We were predominantly settled by the British. It's sort of an apples-and-oranges thing.

I don't disagree with bigots and racists overlooking all of the great things spanish speaking Americans have done. Just inserting a point-of-information is all.

[Virginia Dare]

16. The Spanish and the French settled much of the U.S.....

some of it was won by the British as a result of War, and Thomas Jefferson purchased some of it from Napoleon.

[skygazer]

19. Not here in California, "we" weren't

Nor in the Southwest, nor in Florida, nor along the Gulf. I'm from New England originally which was settled mostly by the English but I know enough history to know that they weren't the only ones.

[redqueen]

20. Actually Texas was settled by the Clovis, then Indians and Spaniards.

Mexico gave SF Austin a grant to settle here in 1823.

We didn't decide to join the US until 1845.

This is a big country. It's not all one way or the other.


on edit: aaahahaahahaha... and you forgot all about the Indians in Canada, it seems! :rofl:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

22. It's most definitely not all one way or the other.

But Canada was pretty much all just French and British. I'm just saying, there is a difference between the two countries.

Again, I in no way disagree with the spirit of the message, so if need be, I'll just say I'm wrong here and end it at that. I don't wish to argue semantics when we agree on the base message.

[w13rd0]

10. Ze National Anthem

Only has merit when sung in itz original german or maybe in ze latin. In the language god wrote it in...

[stopbush]

24. Original language - English. Original tune - Beer-drinking song!

Our nation's favorite beer-drinking song!

Word is that the Senate had retired to the bar in the basement, heard the tune
and thought it would go great a baseball games. :)

Little-known facts about the Star-Spangled Banner:

1. Nobody knows the words to the 2, 3 & 4 verses

2. The verse that everyone knows ends as a question: "O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" I guess that's an open question.

3. In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote new words for a well-known drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven," to celebrate
America's recent victory over the British. However, only in 1931, following a twenty-year effort during which more than
forty bills and joint resolutions were introduced in Congress, was a law finally signed proclaiming "The Star Spangled Banner"
to be the national anthem of the United States. (Info from the Library of Congress) http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm065.html...

4. Here's the original words for the drinking song:

I
To Anacreon in Heaven, where he fat in full glee,
A few sons of Harmony sent a petition,
That He their Inspirer and Patron would be;
When this answer arrived from the Jolly Old Grecian
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
"no longer be mute,
"I'll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot,
"And, besides, I'll insruct you like me to entwine
"The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's Vine.


II
The news through OLYMPUS immediately flew;
When OLD THUNDER pretended to give himself Airs
"If these mortals are suffer'd their Scheme to persue,
"The Devil a Goddess will stay above the Stairs.
"Hark, already they cry,
"In transports of Joy,
"Away to the Sons of ANACREON we'll fly,
"And there, with good Fellows, we'll learn to entwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BUCCUS'S Vine.


III
"The YELLOW-HAIRED GOD and his nine lusty Maids
"From Helicon's Banks will incontinent flee,
"IDALIA will boast but of tenantless Shades,
"And the bi-forked Hill a mere Desart will be
"My Thunder, no fear on't,
"Shall foon do it's Errand,
" and, dam'me! I'll swinge the Ringleaders, I warrant,
"I'll trim the young Dogs, for thus daring to twine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCUS'S Vine.

Were Key living today, he'd probably want his words set to the tune of today's favorite beer-swilling song,
"99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall." :)

[Virginia Dare]

12. I'd rather hear it sung in decently in Spanish ..

than listen to the way it is massacred by some people in the English language any day. I'm willing to bet a majority of Americans have no idea what the meaning of the words are anyway.

Besides, it is a fallacy that the United States has always been an English speaking nation.

[tishaLA]

17. Perhaps he can also offer his opinion on...

The Black National Anthem, written over a century ago by James Weldon Johnson. I'd love to see him offend everyone on this glorious Friday.

[Cleita]

18. I'm thanking him for the favor. n/t

[catmandu57]

25. Most people can't even sing it in english

but, I haven't any problem with anyone singing the national anthem in any language they want.