Thursday, March 15, 2012

Rick Santorum to Puerto Rico: It's My Way Or The Highway

H/T Paige Cohen

I don't think there would be to many Puerto Ricans lined up who would consider Rick Santorum for a Mr. Congeniality award.

Here is Rick Santorum trying to court Puerto Rican Republicans before there winner-take-all primary on Sunday:
Puerto Ricans, who recognize both English and Spanish as their official languages, are scheduled to vote in November on a referendum to decide whether they want to pursue statehood or remain a self-governing U.S. commonwealth.

In an interview with El Vocero newspaper, Santorum said he supported Puerto Ricans' right to self-determination regarding the island's political status.
"We need to work together and determine what type of relationship we want to develop," he told the newspaper.

But Santorum said he did not support a state in which English was not the primary language.

"Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law," Santorum said. "And that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states with more than one language such as Hawaii but to be a state of the United States, English has to be the principal language."
The full story is HERE.

Now that should sway a few Hispanics votes (especially the 4,000,000 Puerto Ricans living on the mainland) away from Obama in a general election if Rick was the nominee....Don't you think?

Please check us out on Facebook and If you like what you see, please "Like" us. You can find us here.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Unfortunately I can't disagree with the core of his argument, but yes, it will hurt him.

Anonymous said...

Just more of Rick not knowing what to say or not say at any given moment. What a disastrous nominee he would be.

-Martha

larry said...

Santorum has a way of putting his foot in his mouth. It's one thing to think this way and another to say it aloud when Republicans are trying to court the Hispanic vote.

Every time he elaborates on something, it becomes a time bomb.

Kim said...

A agree larry. Santorum is giving Gingrich a run for his money when it comes to making bizarre statements that create controversy.

Machtyn said...

A comment I've read elsewhere: "Santorum is sticking Gingrich's foot in his mouth."

I can't disagree with his sentiment, but you all are correct, he put it horribly... just like the contraception issue.

Now, imagine if Romney had stated this, he would have a firestorm to deal with. As it is, I've seen 4 websites cover this story. Yahoo! news, AP, CNN, and one other off-site blog. And, of course, now this one.

Machtyn said...

Sorry, Reuters, not AP.

Anonymous said...

As I understand it, no state actually "officially" has English has an official language, and PR recognizes English already as one of their official languages, so its a stupid comment by Santorum. Puertoricans or latinos in general are very proud of their hispanic and quotes like this could turn them off. BTW PR will not become a state anytime soon, more of them are against it then for it.

Machtyn said...

Anon @11:09.

And why should they? They benefit from all of our welfare and pay none of the federal taxes.

Anonymous said...

Why would Santorum go to Puerto Rico and say he wants to impose a precondition on PR’s admission to statehood that doesn’t exist in current federal law? What’s more, English isn’t even the official language of the United States at this time. Was Santorum sleeping during the debates when Newt got thunderous applause for wanting to pass a federal law to make English the country’s official language? Lastly, many individual states haven’t adopted English as that state’s official language. If elected, would Santorum threaten to withhold federal aid (cf. Obama) if a state wouldn’t bend to his will on the language issue?

Is Santorum being anti-Puerto Rican in holding PR to a higher standard than current law requires? On the East Coast, where many transplanted Puerto Ricans and their descendants are my neighbors, small business owners, and coworkers, I can tell you it will be viewed that way.

Does Santorum care? My guess would be No. Based on the sheer political stupidity of his remarks within PR, he intended to send a dog whistle to his hardcore supporters on the mainland. America first, English first, get it? He knows he’s not going to win PR’s WTA primary. He doesn’t care. If he loses, at least he went down fighting for America, for English, and not for Spanglish.

Anonymous said...

Santorum just handed Romney P.R. with that statement. For a guy who is way behind in the delegate count and will already get the far right vote, this was just stupid. A complete gaffe that fox news isn't covering. If Romney were to say that, he would get hammered. Maybe it is a sign that even fox knows that Rick isn't going to get it. Meanwhile Mitt is on Fox just today talking about serious issues. Huge difference between Mitt and Newt and Rick. Newt and Rick are still playing the primary game. Mitt is already stepping into general election mode.

Ohio JOE said...

"Now, imagine if Romney had stated this" He has stated worse several times.

Anonymous said...

Really OJ? of course you anti-Romneys will say that. You and your clueless friends have your heads so far up Sarah Palin's rectum, it's unbelieveable.

Anonymous said...

FYI... all state and government business is conducted in English. AND most of the Puerto Rican's speak perfect English. Santorum was only pandering to his far right bigot base when he said this.

Ellie