VivirLatino

Newt's Sorry Doesn't Translate

12:40 H | Topics: Bilingualism - Immigration - Internet - Language - Newspapers - Politics - Race

Maybe when former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich basically said that Spanish was a ghetto language he was referring to his own lame attempt to apologize and explain his statements in Spanish! Thankfully I'm not the only one to see the irony in both his original statements and his later attempts to justify them.

The remarks drew a barrage of comments from the Latino community, and were quickly repudiated on popular Web sites such as Latin Americanist, Latino Pundit and Vivir Latino-- U.S. Latino life in blog form. A headline on Vivir Latino read "Newt -- Not Ghetto Fabulous," with Maegan Ortiz, the site's New York-based editor, writing: "Don't you love how politicos use Spanish when it works for them and when it doesn't, they trash it?" Similarly, Hispanic organizations such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund were incredulous, calling Gingrich's comments "hateful."

Huge props to Washington Post staff writer Jose Antonio Vargas for calling attention to the double standard white politicians hold dear when it comes to the Latino vote (and giving VL props as well). Politicos aspiring to higher offices talk out of both sides of their mouths, bad mouthing us and pandering to us, all in poor Spanish to boot. How poor? Vargas notes:

(However: Memorando al Señor Gingrich: In Spanish, the "r" is rolled and the syl-la-bles are se-pa-ra-ted.)

See Gingrich's try to excuse the inexcusable after the jump.

Via / The Washington Post

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