Newt's free speech problem

Old white guys who have been in power for a while seem to have trouble maneuvering through race issues. In November, it was Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), who referred to Miami as a "third world country." In February, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) referred to Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) as the first "clean" and "articulate" black presidential candidate.

Now former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has referred to languages other than English as "the language of living in a ghetto."

"We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English," he told the women's group last weekend, "so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto."

Newt, of course, backpedaled quickly from his statement. Maegan la Mala of Vivir Latino said...

Don't you love how politicos use Spanish when it works for them and when it doesn't, they trash it?

And all three of these guys want to be president.

Besides the racial overtones, there is also a free speech issue here. But, then again, Newt has made it clear before that he's no fan of free speech.

Andy in Harrisburg

At dinner for 1st amendment, Newt trashes the 1st amendment

This passed me by last week.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday in Manchester said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.

Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a "different set of rules" may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.

In response, Cenk Uygur at Huffington Post said it best:

This is the white flag of surrender. Gingrich is saying that we cannot defeat the terrorists with our rules. In case, you think that's an exaggeration, he literally said we need a "different set of rules" to limit speech and the internet. He is saying the American system that was good enough to win World War I, World War II and the Cold War is not good enough to beat Al Qaeda.
...
In order to be truly American, don't you have to believe in America?

It's the "stop the terrorists from destroying America by destroying America" mentality.
Andy in H-burg