Puerto Rico 51st State: MSM, No Big Deal

[MnAttorney]

Of course I am ecstatic that we won last night. This is pretty big news as well. I had to look for this info this morning.

Do you think Congress will let them in? Obama is in favor.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20238272

[Coexist]

1. will the Republican Congress approve this?

I wonder?

[Pab Sungenis]

5. Perhaps.

But look for them to insert "English Only" into any enabling legislation.

[MnAttorney]

6. I may be in the minority here

But I wouldn't have a problem with that provided it was like Quebec, i.e. everything in English/Spanish.

[Pab Sungenis]

8. Bilingualism would be a great compromise.

The question is what kind of control the racists and Teahadists are still going to have over the House leadership after last night. If they're still running the show, they won't settle for bilingualism.

[Coexist]

10. Yes, I can see the fringe getting loud about that.

[Retrograde]

24. The original state constitutions for California and New Mexico provided for bi-lingual laws

I don't know about Arizona. California's quickly fell by the wayside largely due to the gold rush, but there is precedent for doing this.

BTW, I just finished reading a book about the Compromise of 1850: New Mexico wanted to apply for statehood then, but Congress didn't want a place quite that non-Anglo at the time.

[KamaAina]

28. Quebec is officially monolingual French

for instance, a sign in Montreal that read "Brown's" had the "'s" chopped out of it, because that's English.

The only officially bilingual province of Canada is New Brunswick.

[calico1]

2. The Party that supports Statehood in PR is

their local Republican Party, not Democrats.

[yurbud]

15. it would still be a problem for mainland Repubs and their white racist base

[calico1]

23. Agree. My point is

that the people in PR who want and support Statehood are the Republicans who love Bush, cheney, etc. NOT Democrats. The Democrats there favor the status quo. I think a lot of people think it's the other way around.

[daleanime]

3. Would it get by the house?

We'll hear that question alot the next two years.

[Enrique]

4. I agree, it sounds like major news that's being ignored

look at this passage from the AP article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/puerto-rico-votes-on-whether-to-change-relationship-with-us-elects-governor-and-legislators/2012/11/06/d87278ae-288b-11e2-aaa5-ac786110c486_story.html

It is unclear whether U.S. Congress will debate the referendum results or if Obama will consider the results to be a clear enough majority.

It's "unclear". Does that mean you asked a single member of Congress about it? Or a single member of the Administration?

It appears to be in our court, and yet I can't find a single official comment on how the U.S. will respond.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

7. It'll never happen. nt

[SweetieD]

9. It is not a big deal because it will never happen.

The republican controlled house will never allow PR statehood. There are also a whole host of factors for why many in washington would not want PR to become a state.

[smorkingapple]

11. Folks, it will happen. Republicans will start bending over backwards to please latinos now

Obama will end embargo against Cuba

Support PR statehood

Achieve immigration reform

and Latinos will be Democrats for decades to come. If Republicans want to have any chance, they cannot be seen as opposing Latinos going forward on high profile measures like this.

[calico1]

13. As I stated above, the pro Statehood party in PR

is Republican. The Democrats for the most part support the status quo.

[yurbud]

14. I like your analysis. The only problem is they can't do any of that without shaking

a lot of crackers out of the barrel.

[tinrobot]

12. Does Puerto Rico lean right or left?

If it leans left, I doubt the House would approve.

[yurbud]

16. If these guys get statehood, it will be harder to deny it to DC.

[JCMach1]

18. Statehood for both

[yurbud]

22. I agree, the top of the GOP probably realizes they need to throw some bones to blacks and Latinos...

But how can they hold onto their base of whites nostalgic for Jim Crow if they back that?

[Nancy Waterman]

17. 2 more Democratic Senators and more Reps

The GOP will never approve. Why do you think we can't get representation for DC?

[Pab Sungenis]

21. Don't count on that.

The GOP has a presence in Puerto Rico, although their Republicans are more of the old moderate school.

[Firebirds01]

19. Santorum

Remember when Rick went there and instead of giving a speech about his policies he chastised them. He did everything but call them a racial slur.

[yurbud]

20. Here's a Freerepublic thread for the average righties response

to sum up: why do we want an island full of welfare bums vs. pretty place and some strategic value.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2956402/posts

[yurbud]

25. Puerto Rican and DC statehood would also be a problem for DEMOCRATIC politicians:

It would make it even less credible to say Republicans "forced" them to make concessions when they are an even smaller minority in Congress.

The relationship between the Democrats and Republicans reminds me of a sad story about a mother monkey whose baby died: she carried it around like it was alive until it decomposed beyond recognition. Then she let it go like it was no big deal. I'm still waiting for Democrats to do that with the corpse of the GOP.

If they started treating it like the stinking corpse it is, it would quickly lose a lot of its remaining power and fall in popularity to Lyndon LaRouche territory (no offense to Lyndon LaRouche).

[littlewolf]

26. I think congress will approve it. nt

[KamaAina]

27. The irony is that the pro-statehood party in PR is affiliated with the repukes

and it'd be the teabaggers in the repuke House who would block admission. Similar opposition delayed Hawai'i's admission by nearly three decades.