Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
Posted on 03/14/2012 1:47:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Puerto Rico primary is on Sunday and Rick Santorum made a quick campaign stop to the island.
While there, he told Puerto Ricans that if they want to pursue statehood, they should make English their primary language, Reuters reports.
Nevermind the fact that both English and Spanish are already the official languages of the territory. In an interview with El Vocero newspaper, Santorum said he does not support a state where English is 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 only problem with Romney's plan is that no part in the U.S. constitution stipulates that English must be the primary language of a territory before it becomes a state.
The U.S. Census Bureau did report in 2010 that 80 percent of Puerto Ricans self-reported that thee speak English less than "very well."
Twenty delegates are up for grabs in Puerto Rico.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
On second thought, what’s still keeping Puerto Rico from declaring independence?
The Philippines did that decades ago.
I doubt it matters. Puerto Rico doesn’t want to become a state.
Romney seems to be pickup up all the territories. Makes me wonder if they are out of the loop and voting for hair.
Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
Although American citizens, those living on Puerto Rico can’t vote in the Presidential election, they have no Congressional representation, nor Electoral College vote.
He’s there fishing for delegates to the RNC convention...they have 23 of those.
When California was admitted to the Union in 1850, there were more Spanish speakers than English speakers in the State, and the State's first Constitution was adopted in both English and Spanish versions.
Wow. Not only does this article have typos (’thee” for “they,” for instance), but it mistakenly says “Romney’s plan” when it’s referring to Santorum. Do they not have an editor?
Puerto Rico will never vote for either statehood or Independence. They don’t want to give up their Spanish culture and identity (separate Olympics teams, for instance)for statehood, but they don’t want to lose all that American cash either. They’re content to sit in the middle, playacting the independent country while letting America pay the bills.
Why did I burst out laughing when I read the headline?
Rick is getting good at making noise. The more noise he makes for better results in the primary race!
Well, maybe Newt Gingrich can win them — PR is in the south, right?
I know that Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory. Though its people are nominally U.S.citizens, they’re not natural born citizens. They cannot vote in national elections except when residing on the mainland.
They have a territorial setup that is sweet: they receive benefits, such as welfare and social security, but U.S. businesses located there either do not pay taxes or receive tax breaks. All this would disappear if they became a state.
Yes, but he doesn't speak English.
As south east United States as you can get. Way over here in the Caribbean.
Romney seems to be pickup up all the territories. Makes me wonder if they are out of the loop and voting for hair.
*********************************************************
The territories (and Hawaii) are all RAT/Commie strongholds ,, of course the most liberal republican will get the votes there.
Virtually no one in Puerto Rico wants independence. Whenever the issue is put up for a vote, the split is usually about 46% for the status quo, 44% for statehood and 10% or less for independence.
Incidentally, of the two major political parties in Puerto Rico, the one affiliated with the (mainland) Democrats is the pro-status quo party and the one affiliated with the (mainland) Republicans is the pro-statehood party.
I LOL’d.
Money! It’s a welfare gimme state.
Excuse me but we are natural born citizens and do pay taxes.
(Rick is getting good at making noise. The more noise he makes for better results in the primary race!)
Sorry, but I’m not impressed with that type of noise. At a time when Obama’s greatest vulnerabilities are the economy, his leftist hyper-partisanship, and his disregard for the Constitution, Rick helps him by talking about something that is not even on the radar screen of the electorate. WTF?
Apparently Santorum is unaware that PR has voted several times on statehood and they always vote no.
RE: Apparently Santorum is unaware that PR has voted several times on statehood and they always vote no.
I think his audience was the Puerto Rican party that is most affiliated with the Republicans. They MOSTLY want statehood, hence, his speech.
He probably said so because he met with the current Governor of PR, whose party favors statehood.
"If you would like to be turning in an article for publications please to be pushing #4 and reading your story out loud after the tone. Someone will be back with you after we are clearing these monkeys out of the office, thank you."
Maybe Rick and Fam was just down there for a day in the sunny beaches.
Actually, I misremembered the results of the last plebiscite; the votes were a bit over 50% for status quo, 47% for statehood, and only 2.5% for independence.
“They cannot vote in national elections except when residing on the mainland.”
...Which is exactly what they do when they pour into central Florida. Check out the 2010 census figures for details.
Actually, Spanish is now one of our official languages. Go into a Sears, for example. Everything is in English and Spanish.
Cholos ought to speak English then.
“The only problem with Romney’s plan is that no part in the U.S. constitution stipulates that English must be the primary language of a territory before it becomes a state.”
You meant Santorum’s plan, didn’t you?
(I know, they’re kind of interchangeable, aren’t they) LOL
Wish those delegates would go to Newt rather than Romney, but yeah, Santorum is not going to win there after a dumb statement like this.
What the heck is a Cholo?
While I strongly support English as a REQUIREMENT for US Citizenship in the 50 states (not sure about the other 7) and one who is very annoyed that people will come here and make no attempt to learn English, I found on my recent trip to PR it was no problem getting around via English only.
The vast majority of people I dealt with were bilingual and at no time acted like the snobby French when they were required to deal in their non-native language. Kudos to the people of PR.
Somebody who ought to be speaking English.
“At a time when Obama’s greatest vulnerabilities are the economy, his leftist hyper-partisanship, and his disregard for the Constitution, Rick helps him by talking about something that is not even on the radar screen of the electorate. WTF?”
That’s how he rolls. (At least, thus far - contraception diversion being one example.)
It may. But it is going to win him votes in places which have a lot more delegates than Puerto Rico. See my link in item #4.
“Actually, I misremembered the results of the last plebiscite”
You mean you forgot the last public vote? LOL
You are wrong. Puerto Rico wants to become a State. They have a GREAT REpublican Governor now who has turned things around. He told us not to be afraid of a Puerto Rican State, you know, because we just figured it would be another Blue State. It’s worth a watch. If you haven’t heard about the new young Governor...check him out. He’s very charasmatic!
Sounds like a dumb thing to say to a Spanish-speaking island, especially if you want their votes. My husband has family there. They all speak English. The governor is conservative.
Why the hell do any of the non-American territories receive delegates to help crown OUR nominee? Just shows you that BOTH parties have swallowed “progressivism” whole. Bob
I don’t live in Puerto Rico. I remembered that, the last time Puerto Rico voted on this issue, statehood lost narrowly to status quo and that independence got very few votes. I was off by a few percentage points, so I corrected my post. Glad you find that funny.
SOMEONE had better start speaking the friggin’ truth, b/c Balkanization destroys nations everywhere it’s been tried. Bob
Puerto Rico is the least of our problems if you want to talk Balkinization.
Please Rick, don’t make me have to hold my breath like Americans must with Biden—in hopes that you won’t inexplicably blurt out something bizarre in public. Please don’t be that guy.
PR might not like what he said (I’m not sure they have a problem with it either) but it’ll play well with the base here in the states.
“On second thought, what’s still keeping Puerto Rico from declaring independence?”
Because they are a parasite with the US being its host. More ‘unemployment’ are filed in PR than any other state. Can you smell fraud? Obummer would love to have them as a state.
Besides, I like someone who gives plain unscripted answers, don't you?
That just plain ignorant. Get your slurs right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.