August 2, 2012 by David K. Sutton
Republicans endorse English as official language, offer nothing constructive to create jobs
All you hear from Republicans is how President Obama has failed on the economy and how the “stimulus didn’t work,” yet Republicans offer nothing constructive. The one thing that “do nothing” Republicans in congress are actually quite good at doing? Obstruction. Well, that and trying to pass bills that have nothing to do with improving the country, whether it’s nearly 3 dozen votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), restrictions on women’s rights or today’s waste of time: a hearing about an “English-only” bill proposed by, you guessed it, House Republicans.
A House Judiciary subcommittee meeting today heard testimony on proposed legislation that would make English the official language of the United States. It’s no surprise that perennial bigot, birther and (now) dog fighting supporter Steve King (R-IA) is the sponsor of this bill. It’s also not a shock that he got some of his bigot friends to help out:
A Republican witness at today’s House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on legislation making English the official language of the United States is from an organization with ties to racism.
Dr. Rosalie Porter, chairwoman of the board of ProEnglish, is testifying in support of the “English Language Unity Act of 2011” before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution on Thursday morning.
ProEnglish is headed by executive director Robert Vandervoort, who came under fire for hosting a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year featuring Peter Brimelow of the website VDARE, an organization labeled as a white nationalist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The panel also featured a speech from then-National Review editor John Derbyshire, who would later be fired from the magazine for writing a racist article in the wake of the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
It should be noted that Steve King also spoke on the CPAC panel.
Democrats are slamming Republicans for spending time on a piece of legislation which could prevent non-English speakers from casting a ballot or interacting with their government.
“Are you really going to tell someone who came here from the Soviet Union that they shouldn’t vote because they have poor English language skills?” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said in a statement . “I really don’t think this country gains, and in fact I believe we are harmed, by excluding many good people from jointing the families who came from around the world to be part of this great nation.” / TPM
This is the difference between Democrats and Republicans. The Democratic Party is for inclusion. If you are a bigot and want to have your bigoted views become law, the Republican Party is for you.
Oh, and how is this supposed to create jobs? / photo by Gage Skidmore
