DNC chairman criticizes Bush, GOP for Hispanic voter drive…

It seems that Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe thinks Republican efforts to win Hispanic voters is a joke. He claims Republicans use “superficial efforts” to reach these voters, including photo opportunities and teaching Republican officials to speak Spanish. McAuliffe is dead wrong if he thinks the willingness and ability to speak Spanish is superficial. There is nothing more powerful in a culture than its language. To speak a language is to learn a culture. To address others in their native tongue shows respect, even if the speaker has political motives. With Hispanics now the largest ethnic minority in America (and growing), knowledge of Spanish–and thus Hispanic culture–among politicians may soon become a necessity. Of course, I’m now wondering how conservatives will be able to defend their notions of English only.