On Friday, President Bush blasted the idea of singing the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish. But Bush's highly-scripted 2001 inaugural ceremony actually featured a rendition of the national anthem sung in Spanish by Jon Secada. From Cox News Service, 1/18/01:
The opening ceremony reflected that sentiment. A racially diverse string of famous and once famous performers entertained Bush, soon-to-be First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President-elect Richard B. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, who watched on stage from a special viewing area.
Pop star Jon Secada sang the national anthem in English and Spanish.
Apparently, Secada singing the anthem in Spanish was a regular feature of the Bush campaign. From the 8/3/00 Miami Herald:
The nominee, his wife Laura, erstwhile rival John McCain and his wife Cindy joined Bush on a platform where children sang the national anthem - in "Spanglish," Secada explained.
I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English.
But in his book American Dynasty, Kevin Phillips notes that during Bush’s first presidential campaign, he would often sing the national anthem in Spanish. From pg. 142:
When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, he would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Spanish, sometimes partying with a “Viva Bush” mariachi band flown in from Texas.
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby
The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.
- Gordon Parks
I think Bush jumped out there with his admonition that the anthem should be sung in English without giving the matter sufficient thought. Perhaps it was just a reflexive reaction to his awakening to the fact that he is destroying the Republican party over his position on immigration.
I have never heard of such a simple story being so hopelessly misinterpreted, misreported, and misunderstood. ABC Nightline tonight had a piece where they belittled Americans for making such a big deal about singing the anthem in English when so few of them know the words. What does that have to do with anything? Talk about red herring!
The argument has absolutely nothing to do with whether the anthem is sung in Spanish or English. The issue is that the so called Spanish version of our national anthem is actually a whole different song with its own words. The melody is just similar enough to render the song as an imitation of the Star Spangled Banner. Moreover, with the somewhat mocking tone of its lyrics, the Spanish version of our anthem might be reasonably called a parody of the Star Spangled Banner.
EUCLID said this in post #3 : I have never heard of such a simple story being so hopelessly misinterpreted, misreported, and misunderstood. ABC Nightline tonight had a piece where they belittled Americans for making such a big deal about singing the anthem in English when so few of them know the words. What does that have to do with anything? Talk about red herring!
Are you kidding me? That is exactly the point! How can you be so aghast about someone changing something that is so near and dear to you that it shouldn't be touched yet you don't even know the words in English. If it was that important to the American people they would at least know the lyrics to the song. If not, it's obviously not as important to you as you make it sound.
Are you kidding me? That is exactly the point! How can you be so aghast about someone changing something that is so near and dear to you that it shouldn't be touched yet you don't even know the words in English. If it was that important to the American people they would at least know the lyrics to the song. If not, it's obviously not as important to you as you make it sound.
So the message from ABC is that American indignation over the Spanish version is phony indignation because most Americans don't know the words in English, and they would if they really cared as mush about the anthem as their indignation over the Spanish version suggests. So the synopsis of their message is that there really is no objection to the Spanish anthem, and by extension, no objection to unlimited immigration by our Mexican brothers and sisters.
What if some stranger camps out on your lawn and you ask him to leave because he is trespassing? Then the stranger says, "Well I don't know why you are making such a big deal out of it. I enjoy your lawn so much that I want to sleep on it. If you really cared about it, you would be out here sleeping on it. So you are a hypocrite for telling me to leave."
Can you see the red herring in that example? It is the same one that ABC used in their piece.
Do you really believe that you can't love a song without knowing the words? I have tons of Cd's that I listen to. I hear the words, but I don't make it a point to memorize them. Many people probably don't even know the melody of the anthem, and most of the ones that do can't sing it because it has such a broad range.
Most people don't carry a little card with the anthem words and music written on it or have it tattooed on their arm. They don't sing it when they wake up in the morning. Many people don't sing it when they are in a group that is singing it. Many people don't stand and put their hand on their heart when they hear it. It does not mean that they don't care about it, and are therefore hypocrites to object to someone else degrading the anthem as a cheap political tactic.
No, ABC's piece certainly was a red herring from their prime stock. It does not take a rocket scientist to see through their phony-baloney agenda. Obviously they have taken sides in this issue like they do with all issues. It does not take a rocket scientist to predict which side they would take.
When will they start attacking the Black National Anthem with all its different words?
quote:
Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
'Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on 'til victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
'Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby
The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.
- Gordon Parks
05-03-2006 04:15 AM
