ARGH

This is exactly what I’m talking about when I say this shit doesn’t happen in a void.

”I think the National Anthem ought to be sung in English. And I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English, and they ought to learn to sing the National Anthem in English.”

That was President Bush, today, in the Rose Garden, in response to questions about the National Anthem being sung in Spanish.

It is, undoubtedly, a wise move to learn English when one lives in America, since English is the predominant language of government, business, and cross-cultural social interaction. But to make these blanket statements associating English-speaking with patriotism is just sickening. We are a nation of immigrants. This constantly, compulsively repeated refrain, emanating from the mouths of conservatives so regularly that you could set a clock by it, which amounts to the smugly issued, “This is America; speak English!” that gets barked even at recent immigrants by thoughtless nitwits, contributes to the kind of race-driven hatred that I’ve been bitching about all bloody day. I started out taking the GOP to task for their use of these tactics, and now here we have our president doing exactly what I criticized them for doing.

Bush mutters some stupid comment about how people who want to be citizens “ought to learn to sing the National Anthem in English,” and it reinforces the deep hatred of “foreigners” that is so prevalent among a scarily large swath of Americans. And it doesn’t stop with people who don’t speak English; they direct the same “Speak English!” ire at people speaking English with accents. As I’ve mentioned, Mr. Shakes whose native language is English has been told to “learn how to speak English” by assholes who couldn’t understand his brogue.

Bush could have just as easily said, “A National Anthem sung in Spanish would be a nice complement to our English version, recognizing the second most spoken language in America.” He could have just as easily said, “The National Anthem can be sung in whatever language American citizens, who come from a variety of backgrounds, would like to sing it in. We are flattered that people chose our country as their home, and we welcome their choice to sing our National Anthem in their native tongues.” He could have said a whole lot of things besides what he did, but he chose instead to play the politics of division, making thinly guised accusations that people who don’t speak English cannot be patriots.

The Decider has made his decision—and it’s casting Spanish speakers as unpatriotic on the day the nation reads a story about white supremacists beating and raping a Hispanic nearly to his death.

Bush also had this to say this morning:

“I’m going to keep working hard for the American people to get results,’’ Bush said. “There’s a lot to do… we’ll continue to be results oriented… I’m a results-oriented person, and my goal is to achieve results for the American people.’’

And I have this to say in response: Your results stink, you fucking prick.