Texas Gov. Bush Steps Away From GOP Attacks On Bilingual Education
DALLAS (AllPolitics, July 2) -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush used a speech before a leading Hispanic political group Wednesday to distance himself from other Republicans who have targeted bilingual education programs and promoted English-only measures.
"If the bilingual program serves to teach our children English, then we ought to say, 'Thank you very much, and leave them in place,'" Bush said to delegates to the national convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). "And if the bilingual program locks someone into Spanish and does not achieve state objectives, the we must say, 'Change the program, eliminate the program.'"
Delegates roared their approval for Bush's approach, which he dubbed "English plus." In contrast, they later gave only polite applause to House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a supporter of making English the nation's official language. At the LULAC podium, the Georgia Republican did not directly address the language issue.
Opposition to bilingual education and support for official-English proposals by Republican office holders are blamed by some critics for driving Hispanic voters away from the GOP, particularly in California.
Both Bush and Gingrich are potential 2000 presidential candidates, and Hispanic voters make up a large, and growing, segment of the electorate in key states.
One-quarter of the population in both California and Texas is Hispanic; one-eighth in New York and Florida; and one-tenth in New Jersey. Even Gingrich's congressional district in Atlanta's northern suburbs is seeing a noticeable influx of Hispanic immigrants.
Switching comfortably from English to Spanish during his remarks to LULAC, Bush also answered some questions at a pre-speech news conference in Spanish. He came out against the use of U.S. military troops to patrol the border with Mexico, warning against "policy and rhetoric that will wall Mexico off from America."
"The U.S. military is trained to fight the enemy, and Mexico is not the enemy," he said.
Gingrich drew his loudest applause from LULAC delegates when he said the United States shares blame for the illegal drug problem with countries where drugs are cultivated.
"There's no point in talking about bashing Mexico on drugs or bashing Colombia ... [or] Bolivia on drugs," he said. "The primary problem with drugs in the world today is the American market buying them."
Gingrich joined Bush in calling for tougher border enforcement, but he said the border with Mexico should not be completely sealed because that would cut off legal trade along with the influx of illicit drugs and illegal aliens.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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