I can't tell if Newt is a bigot or if he's just trying to appease the rabid right-wing base. Well, then again, the two go hand in hand, no?

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"The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. ... We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto."

However valid his point may be about a common language (and that can certainly be argued on the merits), why would you refer to languages other than English as "the language of living in a ghetto"? That's just bigoted, inflammatory and divisive if you ask me. First he assaulted free speech, then Katrina victims. What's next?

AP:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated bilingual education Saturday with "the language of living in a ghetto" and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages.

"The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up" to vote, said Gingrich, who is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Republican Women.