WASHINGTON, May 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Former presidential candidate Gary L. Bauer on Friday condemned Sen. Harry Reid's characterization of support for a common language among the American people as "racist."
The Chairman of Campaign for Working Families PAC made following statement following the senator's ill-chosen comments:
"Last night the United States Senate overwhelmingly passed an amendment to the immigration reform bill that declares English is the national language of the United States. The proposal was introduced by conservative Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and approved 63-to-34. Unfortunately, it was watered down later in the evening by another amendment offered by Democrat Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado.
"But the most outrageous thing was the reaction of Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to the Inhofe amendment. Sen. Reid is quoted by the Associated Press saying this: 'I really believe this amendment is racist.'
"It's unbelievable that the leader of Senate Democrats believes that promoting one unifying language -- English -- in our nation is bigotry. On this point, President Bush has been very clear and he has repeatedly stated that immigrants coming to America, who want to be Americans, ought to learn English.
"And the American people wholeheartedly agree. One recent poll found that 84 percent of Americans want English to be our official language. That figure included 91 percent of Republicans, 82 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Independents, and even 71 percent of Hispanics.
"I hope that every Republican leader and like-minded Democrats in Washington will contact Sen. Reid today to demand an apology for his insult to the American people. Americanization -- the making of one nation out of many -- should be the goal of our leaders, and one language is a good way to begin." |
