Garrison Keillor: "The republicans claim they want everyone in this country to speak english,

[Elwood P Dowd]

yet they don't have any candidates that can properly speak the language." It was at the beginning of his Prairie Home Companion show today when he was discussing the debates.

[Blue Owl]

1. LOL no shit

n/t

[marybourg]

2. After all, he IS the President of the Professional

Organization of English Majors; P.O.E.M.

[Elwood P Dowd]

3. Lay off the ketchup and biscuits.

[surrealAmerican]

11. ... but they're oh so tasty and expeditious.

[Elwood P Dowd]

12. Good One!

[Justice wanted]

4. I love Garrison... I am going to miss him when he retires.

[redqueen]

14. +1

[HockeyMom]

5. They don't want them speaking SPANISH

Have your heard them blasting people who speak French, Italian, Mandarian, or Koren? Of course not. It's them Hispanics they don't like.

[izquierdista]

6. You don't get out much, do you?

Guess you didn't see the ad attacking Romney because he speaks French.
Guess you didn't hear Rush doing his imitation Chinese.
Guess you didn't hear about Huntsman getting the thumbs down for speaking in Mandarin at the debate.
Small minds are closed to any dialect except their own.

[HockeyMom]

9. Sorry, I live in the South

It's the Spanish speaking MEXICANS here they don't like. Yeah, I know there was an owner of an Italian restaurant up North who had a sign ENGLISH ONLY spoken here. ROFL Hello? How many dishes on his menu are ENGLISH?????

Stupid people are stupid people no matter where they live.

[B Calm]

15. It's the same thing up north. They hate Mexicans

and go ballistic when they speak Spanish.

[RZM]

10. I speak a foreign language and read several more. I love linguistics in general as well

And even I gave Hunstman two thumbs down on his debate stunt. It was lame showmanship that is better suited for a dinner party than for a debate where almost nobody in the audience speaks Chinese. It came off as arrogant. You only do that if there are people in the audience who will get what you are saying. Nobody in that audience got it, including me.

Reminds me of a scene in 'Democracy' by Henry Adams (written in the 1870s or so. I highly recommend it). During a dinner party scene, a European aristocrat and an Illinois politician are having some words. The aristocrat (I think he's Austrian) occasionally insults the politician in French. The politician doesn't speak it, but the woman he's after does and she always snickers whenever the aristocrat does it.

That's when you do that kind of thing, not at a debate.

[B Calm]

7. They spoke Spanish in this country before

they did English. Tell that to those right wing nut jobs and watch their heads explode, LOL!

[liberaltalkingpoints]

8. They seem to also enjoy hiring illegal immigrant laborers for cut rates as well

eom

[YellowRubberDuckie]

13. Americans speak American.

Not English. The English language has been butchered and there are kids out there right now that think that spelling and grammar are not important at all. We were talking to someone on World of Warcraft the other day, and I said something about how idiotic they all sounded because no one could spell or use proper grammar. Someone said, "It's 2011. That stuff don't matter no more." Really? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. How else do you articulate something? I also always turn double negatives around on people. It's really fun.
Duckie