Spitball Army

Seems the Tim James ‘language’ ad has piqued some national interest.  Here are some examples of the discourse and commentary that has been sparked by it.  As always, some of the more interesting thoughts on the topic appear in the comments sections of the following posts (but be sure to filter out the bile):

• al.com (masters of headline brevity):
  “Tim James has come under criticism for ad espousing English-only driver’s license testing”
  LINK
  by Chuck Dean of The Birmingham News

  Tim James said today that a campaign ad in which he calls for driver’s license tests to be given only in English has been attacked by “lefties.”

  “I have come under attack and under assault by a very interesting group of far left reporters,” James, a Republican candidate for governor, told a few dozen supporters at his Jefferson County headquarters in Vestavia Hills.

• The World Around You (Alabama Politics Analyzed for Your Protection):
  “Tim James Might Want to Learn the History of “English Only” Driver’s License Examinations in Alabama”
  LINK
  by blog editor Kristopher, a very interesting examination of past efforts to English-ize Alabama driving tests.

  It may be news to some, but we have tried to enforce English-only driver’s license examinations before, and as Alabama is prone to do, racked up millions of dollars in legal fees as a result.  Let’s take a walk down memory lane (courtesy of Dr. Harold Schiffman at the University of Pennsylvania).

• Maddow Blog:
  “This is Alabama.  We speak English.”
  LINK
  presumably by Rachel Maddow (but maybe by a staffer…who knows, for sure.  That Rachel Maddow is one busy lady.).  I’d tweeted the link to this Tim James video to Rachel Maddow, but was apparently a day or two late – they were already all over it.

  On his website, James includes a category called “Common Sense for Crime and Public Safety.” It starts with crystal meth and spouse abuse and ends with the prisons’ revolving doors, and in between: “Enforce Alabama’s Constitutional Amendment declaring English as the state’s official language.”

  Equating people who need help translating documents with jerks who beat their partners and addicts who stay zonked all day strikes me as just plain mean.