Comments on: Gingrich: When I Said ‘Language Of Living In The Ghetto,’ I Meant Hebrew (Or Maybe Yiddish)

By: BT

BT — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:30:49 +0000

Actually, “ghetto” is not a Hebrew nor Yiddish term, it comes from Italian as ghettos got their name from an area called Ghetto in Venice.

By: John P frischer

John P frischer — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 13:36:51 +0000

You have got to be kidding Newt. (What a great name for a true chameleon), what you say demonstrates what you were thinking-ghetto-are you trying to tell us you were really thinking of the Jewish ghetto. Oh yeah which one, Warsaw maybe? What a racist low life.

By: thomasfortenberry.net » Blog Archive » Don’t Let Newt Ghetto Know You

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 04:56:27 +0000

[...] News. He said that he didn’t really mean nasty hispanics, per se, what he really meant were Jewish and Yiddish ghetto types. But last night on Hannity & Colmes, Gingrich claimed his statement â€œdid not refer to [...]

By: Joel Sanchez

Joel Sanchez — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 17:03:33 +0000

Newt Gingrich was caught in a moment of sincerity when describing his aversion against Latinos and immigrants. To be elected he can’t be sincere, so he decides to appear in Hannity & Colmes. If he decides to run for president, I believe he will continue pushing towards legislation similar to having English as the official language of US that don’t solve anything other than furthering discrimination and division.

By: Morgus

Morgus — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:38:22 +0000

He obviously means that your chances of success are far greater if immigrants immerse themselves in learning English, rather than some inferior hybrid nonsense that won’t get you nearly as far. I’d be willing to bet that we could tie the likelihood of living in ghetto-like conditions to the effort an immigrant puts into learning English. Bi-lingual education is ipso facto a less rigorous enterprise.

By: Roger Verhiest

Roger Verhiest — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 08:27:21 +0000

The native english speakers in this world face a terrible problem : they are cutting themselves off the other big cultures in this world by making it more and more difficult for their youth to learn foreign languages. Lately in the UK there was an official who stated his wish to abolish the teaching of Latin and classical Greek in schools…

If in Almerica I would be grateful that there is still an opportunity to learn at least a 2nd language. Living in a small 4-lingual country, I can watch television on cable in no less than 6 different languages -
my earliest education was bilingual and for now I speak 5 languages fluently. What is wrong with the US today ? Have you people become
afraid of knowledge ?

By: Latina

Latina — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:02:29 +0000

Poor ignorant, scumbag. Bilingual education guetto? gosh….too bad ignorance isn’t painful.

By: Blog of the Moderate Left » Power! Power! Power!

Blog of the Moderate Left » Power! Power! Power! — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 05:32:07 +0000

[...] buying that you were talking about the Jews, Newt. Come [...]

By: Newt Gingrich's Future Hispanic Vote Share to Drop from 1% to 0 « The Late Blog w/ Eric H

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:39:33 +0000

[...] Future Hispanic Vote Share to Drop from 1% to 0 Posted by halona under Politics From Think Progress:Â “Newt Gingrich said this past weekend that the U.S. should abolish bilingual education so [...]

By: Lora

Lora — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:24:25 +0000

Zooey,
Thanks for the translation. Is that a Yiddish saying, or your own words?

By: Think Progress » Gingrich: lo siento.

Think Progress » Gingrich: lo siento. — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:15:40 +0000

[...] Gingrich apologizes for calling Spanish the “language of living in the ghetto,” in [...]

By: Lora

Lora — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:14:21 +0000

Louis A
I’m not sure if his daughter is a lesbian, however his half-sister, Candace, is.

By: Louis A

Louis A — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:44:12 +0000

I’m an ignorant, spanish speaker, so help me understand. Is this words of a man that wanted to get Clinton out of office for a having an affair while he was doing the same thing, are this words of a man who’s daughter is a lesbian and well not speak to him do to his views against gay people. Is this words of a man that has been married three times.. I’m not suprised the guy is an idiot.. I hate politics how ever if he runs I’ll make sure to get involved…. Dummm asss

By: MikeBC

MikeBC — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:20:22 +0000

I agree with 110–Newt made a poor choice of words but otherwise wasn’t referring to a particular group, I believe. I am also a far-lefty type and would pay to see bamboo shoots driven up under his fingernails but why not concentrate on the merits of the issues rather than jumping on every insignificant little misstatement. 111 has the right idea IMHO

By: Fellow-ette

Fellow-ette — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:03:09 +0000

What Gingrich is saying is straight-up racist and ignorant.

As a former public school teacher who struggled desperately with ESL kids and kids whose vernacular was far from workplace english, I still think that in many cases bilingual education is necessary.

Why can’t we teach students English in a rigorous, grammar-heavy curriculum while letting them stay at pace with their peers in Spanish, Chinese, Arabic etc. in other subjects? Children need to feel understood and that they understand, and bilingual classes can help them tremendously that way.

By: jschultz

jschultz — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 15:56:08 +0000

I am a strong liberal, but I think people are being unfair here, much like conservatives were unfair to Sen. Kerry about his botched joke.

It is an undeniable fact that when non-english speaking people come into this country they often join pre-established communities of their ethnic background. They do this because they can get by easier with the language they already know and receive various other forms of support from their familiar community. You can properly refer to such a community as a ghetto, although that usage has negative connotations of impoverishment.

I don’t see why “the language of the ghetto” means spanish anymore than it could chinese (china town), italian (little italy), greek (greek town), korean, etc.

By: Zooey

Zooey — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 15:17:55 +0000

I hope you realize I was being sarcastic. I wouldnâ€™t take Dobsonâ€™s word on anything.

I knew that. :-)

BTW, what does your Yiddish posting in #95, if you donâ€™t mind telling usâ€“or me?
Comment by Lora

Translation: As many years as heâ€™s walked on his feet, let him walk on his hands, and for the rest of the time he should crawl along on his ass.

By: The Gingrich Statement « The Last Caribbean, Bohemian Artist

The Gingrich Statement « The Last Caribbean, Bohemian Artist — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:59:34 +0000

[...] Think Progress there is a video ofÂ Hannity & Colmes,Â in which Gingrich claimed his statement â€œdid not refer to Spanish.â€ Gingrich insisted, [...]

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 09:48:04 +0000

“What I meant is very clearly, Alan. Iâ€™ll let you pick the right word for me.”

Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Someone please teach this man how to speak English.

Gibberish is not, yet, a recognised language.

By: Riot Nrrrdâ„¢

Riot Nrrrdâ„¢ — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:29:57 +0000

Far be it for me to defend Newt Gingrich, but on some fundamental level I tend to agree with him on the issue of Bilingual Education. More importantly, if you want a glimpse of your future, it behooves any Progressive to read this
this LA Daily News article from Sept. of 2005 – whereupon you will find that many people in the Los Angeles area feel there is no need to learn English whatsoever (yes, I know that has nothing to do with bilingual education). Korean restaurant & shop owners – who don’t speak English – are learning Spanish so they can talk to their hired help, and the hired help are learning Korean to better communicate with The Boss.

Myself, I tend to subscribe to the moderate view (on this issue, anyway; on most issues I tend to be easily lumped into that “Bambi-hugging Commie Pinko Fag radical leftist Liberal” camp the Right-wingnuts so easily want to slot us into) as best espoused in this article in today’s edition of the Cornell Sun.

As for Ben Dover in post #35 – have you not figured out that the multi-language menus and traffic signs, and multi-lingual gas station workers are born out of necessity? Those are all byproducts of catering to tourists – if your livelihood depends on tourists (whether it be individuals’ livelihoods or the country in general), of course it’s more advantageous to you to speak as many tongues as you can. That has nothing whatsoever to do with this situation we’re discussing here, if you ask me. I’m seeing Spanish-only signs on main streets in LA in neighborhoods that aren’t even predominantly Hispanic. I find that offensive – it’s “training wheels” in the same way Bilingual Education is training wheels. I don’t think there should be non-English monolanguage-only signs in the US – at the very least they should all be bilingual; or even better, pick another 5 or 6 major languages to put on them to boot.