Discriminación

On September 10, the Democrat candidates for President assembled for a debate broadcast on the Spanish channel Univision.

The Republicans were offered a similar debate, but only John McCain was willing to participate. I consider that short-sighted and frustrating.

However, the circumstances of the Democrats' debate were terrible. First of all, this was a debate between individuals who seek to be President of the United States and therefore a forum in which they could express their ideas to the American voting public. It so happens that in this case their ideas were presented in the Spanish language. Sadly, I know very little Spanish - but I still wanted to hear what they had to say! To my amazement, Univision did not close-caption the debate in English or provide a second audio track in English! For once the shoe was on the other foot, and it kicked me and other non-Spanish speakers swiftly in the ass.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I was furious about the rules of the debate which did not allow Bill Richardson (a bilingual candidate of Hispanic origin) and Chris Dodd (who speaks Spanish fluently thanks to a Peace Corps stint in the Dominican Republic) to answer the questions in Spanish to the audience!!! They had to listen to translations through an earpiece, and then reply in English, only to have their English reply translated back into Spanish for broadcast to the viewers. How absolutely obnoxious, not to mention inefficient. Richardson was scolded by the moderator when he attempted to toss in a bit of Spanish in his replies.

Par for the liberal course, I suppose: penalize those with skills and talents so that others don't "feel bad". What quintessentially bad egalitarian PCness! Be forewarned: elect a Democrat in 2008, and this mentality will overrun America's educational and social policy.