At a speech to the National Federation of Republican Women, Newt Gingrich argued that the United States should abolish bilingual education so that “people…learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.” The likely presidential candidate also said that the government should not require that ballots “be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up” to vote. (Because non-English speakers do everything without foresight or logic, apparently.) The lady Republicans cheered thunderously.
Hispanics, however, were predictably peeved by these comments, and Gingrich was asked about them in an appearance on Hannity & Colmes. I’m not sure if his response there was anti-Semitic or just stupid, but he said, “Frankly, ghetto, historically had referred as a Jewish reference originally. I did not mention Hispanics, and I certainly do not want anybody who speaks Spanish to think I’m in any way less than respectful of Spanish or any other language spoken by people who come to the United States.”
Finally, he faced the music and apologized to the Hispanic community—I mean, obviously, he meant no harm and doesn’t hold any negative stereotypes or anything. What a bunch of oversensitive, hot-blooded, bean-eating, lazy, sombrero-wearing landscapers to think otherwise!
