Matt Blunt tells Lou Dobbs we’re out of touch
Two of our favorites, soon-to-be ex-Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and future President Lou Dobbs were on TV Wednesday evening talking about us…it doesn’t get much better than that.
The governor appeared on Lou’s show on CNN to ’splain Amendment 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot. That’s the one that would amend the state constitution to make English the “language of all official proceedings of the state.”
As we had noted in an editorial last Thursday, Missouri law already recognizes that “English is the common language used in Missouri .” The amendment is unnecessary. On the other hand, Mr. Blunt also gave us the proposal to make it illegal for undocumented aliens to get drivers licenses, which already was illegal. The amendment is a waste of taxpayer’s money.
But the governor, like Lou, believes you can’t be too tough on illegal immigrants, so they agreed that we were out of touch:
DOBBS: And turning to another issue, English has been known as the common language in Missouri. Now a ballot measure would change that. The ballot measure reads in part English should be the part of all governmental meetings in which any public business is discussed, decided or where public policy is formulated. Obviously, you support that amendment. It’s making English the official language, is it not?
BLUNT: Absolutely. I do support it. It is a step forward. We have had reports in Missouri of counsel meetings being conducted in a foreign language. There are opponents, and those opponents try to spread some misinformation about it. They’ll suggest, for example, that they will ban translation. It doesn’t do that. If somebody needs a translator, they’ll have one. The public discussion of public votes, those will be in English. That’s the language Americans used to follow in my pursuit.
DOBBS: For our friends at the St. Louis Post Dispatch, in a recent editorial, the paper urged Missourians to vote no on the constitutional amendment to make English language of all government meetings. In part it said, “The xenophobes should chill their Lou- Dobbsian rants and steer clear of the state constitution.” I mean, aside from the fact –
BLUNT: Lou, on this issue and others, the Post Dispatch is out of touch with the sentiments of the people of our state. Missourians don’t agree with the Post Dispatch very often. They don’t agree with the Post Dispatch in insuring that English is our official language and public meetings of their democracy are conducted in English.
DOBBS: I would like to know what language they would like to have their meetings conducted in. I would like to have them have the guts — I would love to hear them say what language they would like those meetings held in since English is a requisite for citizenship and involvement in public business.
Precisely, Lou. So why do we need to amend the constitution since the law already says that?
Kevin Horrigan is deputy editor of the editorial page. He writes editorials on local, state and national politics and public policy and also contributes a signed column to the Sunday Commentary Page. "The Old Sport" is a former sports columnist for the Post-Dispatch and for 10 years hosted radio talk shows on KMOX and KTRS in St. Louis. He lives in South St. Louis with his wife, Kate, and a dream of one day starting a professional catfish noodling tour. 
Wow, Kevin … I remember when you co-hosted with Charles Brennan, you were the conservative of the pair. Now, Brennan is negative toward Prop M, he was a warrior against eminent domain abuse, and you’re shilling for the lefties at the Post. What happened, dude?
As usual Nick, you missed the point. Ah, but that’s ok because you are right (literally) and everyone who doesn’t agree with you is wrong.
Does that mean that if this is passed that Palin won’t be able to speak in Missouri (she does have her problems with the language and often has difficulty finishing sentences)?
Does it mean that people who can’t speak the language correctly will be prohibited from making public appearances? Mike Gibbons would be probably be unable to hold office if this is the case because he used an incorrect tense the other day. We can’t take a chance that he might screw up the law and then we would have a constitutional crisis of historic proportions.
Nick, please enlighten the rest of us. What do we do?
And Nick, I am almost embarrassed to ask this question, if “we” are so out of touch, why isn’t “master” Blunt running for another term and why doesn’t he start his own paper and make a ton of money?
If anyone has problems with English it is Obama. He continually starts sentences which refer to himself and others with “myself” and….insert name. He misuses “me” and “I” repeatedly to the point that there is no other answer except that he doesn’t know he’s wrong. If he uses a word more than me or I, it is uhhhh. After eight years of Bushisms, we get this. Is it too much to ask to have a president who passed grammar?
I absolutely do not believe that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is out of touch with liberal Democrats, socialists, illegal aliens, the gay and lesbian community, the people who live in the city of St. Louis, East St. Louis, the AP, McClatchey, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, ACORN, The San Francisco Chronicle, Barack Obama, Jay Nixon, Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, William Ayers, Ward Churchill, Hollywood, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Keith Olberman, Chris Matthews, John Murtha, Hugo Chavez, or Howard Dean.
Blunt is playing heads up ball. Because if these communist radicals get in power, everything in this country is going to be in 50 different languages so as to be politically correct and “sensitive” to others who are too lazy to learn our language. If you can’t speak it, get out of here.
Only Governor Matt and Lou “Big Head” Dobbs would think this issue is of any importance.
Thank goodness Governor Matt is gone in three months. Let us hope he gets his real estate license and stays away from politics, political office and policy decisions.
“Scott” should learn the English language. A string of words that beings with “because” is not a sentence. Perhaps Scott should get out of here.
As the P-D editorial clearly stated, this amendment is a waste of time & money. It was created by xenophobic zealots, but doesn’t change state law or practice. It’s not worth our vote or consideration.
But you are out of touch..
These laws are laws of ignorance and intolerance. It’s a form of insult and rejection of a group of people. Going back into the late 80’s, my friend who was from the Dominican Republic was once at the ballpark to see her Dominican husband play ball. Her sister was in town visiting from the Dominican and they were speaking Spanish to one another because the sister who was visiting did not speak English. There were females and along with guys behind who continued to yell at them to stop speaking that Mexican!!!! They were totally obnoxious and extremely ignorant.
Stop speaking Mexican. (lol). Gee.
How would it feel as an American being a foreigner in some other country and being treated this way? So many hearts in the U.S. are set so wrong. It could very well be one of the reasons that disaster has hit this country and is nowhere near its end and its cause is not because of any minority group or foreigners. It is something that everyone should look at with open eyes.