Seven of the eight Democratic White House hopefuls gathered at the University of Miami last night for the first of its kind Spanish-language debate sponsored by Univision. That is, the questions were in Spanish, and were translated into English, for English-only responses.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who is Hispanic, complained that Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama prevented him from answering in the language that he learned as a child and is spoken by the 43 million voters the debate was intended to court. He charged that the format amounted to an English-only policy. (A Clinton spokesperson said the candidates did not set the rules, and in fact it was the Univision moderator who appeared irritated that Richardson and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd managed to sneak a few palabras into their answers.)
"A lot of Hispanics don't even know I'm Hispanic," Richardson told reporters, perhaps getting to the real source of his pique. "Hey, my name's Richardson."
According to Newsday, both Clinton and Obama "sidestepped" a question about why they voted to construct a border fence between the US and Mexico.
Delaware Senator Joe Biden was the no-show, begging off he said to prepare for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings with General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker today. It is unclear how much Biden, already struggling in the polls, might be punished for doing the business voters elected him to do.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who is Hispanic, complained that Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama prevented him from answering in the language that he learned as a child and is spoken by the 43 million voters the debate was intended to court. He charged that the format amounted to an English-only policy. (A Clinton spokesperson said the candidates did not set the rules, and in fact it was the Univision moderator who appeared irritated that Richardson and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd managed to sneak a few palabras into their answers.)
"A lot of Hispanics don't even know I'm Hispanic," Richardson told reporters, perhaps getting to the real source of his pique. "Hey, my name's Richardson."
According to Newsday, both Clinton and Obama "sidestepped" a question about why they voted to construct a border fence between the US and Mexico.
Delaware Senator Joe Biden was the no-show, begging off he said to prepare for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings with General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker today. It is unclear how much Biden, already struggling in the polls, might be punished for doing the business voters elected him to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment