‘This Is Alabama. We Speak English.’

Posted on | April 23, 2010 | 93 Comments

And the street signs are also in English. So why is the state giving drivers’ license exams in 12 different languages? Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James asks the common-sense question:

Rachel Maddow says the ad “strikes me as just plain mean,” and lefty-blogger Heather at Crooks & Liars says, “This guy is about as subtle as a brick upside your head.”

Considering that this is a Republican primary in Alabama, such indignation from the Left probably means this ad is a winner. Frankly, I doubt the conservative Democratic candidate Artur Davis would dare disagree with James’ proposal.

I interviewed Tim James in February for the American Spectator. The primary is June 1.

(Hat-tip: Memeorandum.)

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with a Tim James campaign operative, who explained that this ad is part of a series with the “common sense” theme. Here’s a couple more:

My operative friend tells me that the James campaign, which has more cash-on-hand than the other candidates in the crowded GOP primary, has restrained its spending on TV advertising — the most expensive part of campaigning — but is now ramping up their TV buys going into the final five weeks before the primary.

Category: Alabama, Election, Immigration, Republicans, Video

Comments

93 Responses to “‘This Is Alabama. We Speak English.’”

Prophet Mohammed
April 24th, 2010 @ 12:55 am

Beats the shit out of me. Hell, I can’t even read or write Arabic.
Prophet Mohammed
April 24th, 2010 @ 12:55 am

Beats the shit out of me. Hell, I can’t even read or write Arabic.
Prophet Mohammed
April 23rd, 2010 @ 7:55 pm

Beats the shit out of me. Hell, I can’t even read or write Arabic.
William
April 24th, 2010 @ 1:14 am

What are you saying Stacy? That because a driver could get in a wreck they should be able to speak English to the other driver and the policemen both to explain themselves and to provide their liability insurance?

Racist.
William
April 24th, 2010 @ 1:14 am

What are you saying Stacy? That because a driver could get in a wreck they should be able to speak English to the other driver and the policemen both to explain themselves and to provide their liability insurance?

Racist.
William
April 23rd, 2010 @ 8:14 pm

What are you saying Stacy? That because a driver could get in a wreck they should be able to speak English to the other driver and the policemen both to explain themselves and to provide their liability insurance?

Racist.
Americaneocon
April 24th, 2010 @ 2:31 am

McCain … I started to link the GOP gubby viddy’s but said nahhh! Check out Lane Bryant hotness instead, and you’re linked! (You too Smitty!)
Americaneocon
April 24th, 2010 @ 2:31 am

McCain … I started to link the GOP gubby viddy’s but said nahhh! Check out Lane Bryant hotness instead, and you’re linked! (You too Smitty!)
Americaneocon
April 23rd, 2010 @ 9:31 pm

McCain … I started to link the GOP gubby viddy’s but said nahhh! Check out Lane Bryant hotness instead, and you’re linked! (You too Smitty!)
Bill Maher is so funny on this one you have to take your hat | ??????? ???????
April 23rd, 2010 @ 10:23 pm

[…] 'This Is Alabama. We Speak English.' : The Other McCain […]
Patrick
April 24th, 2010 @ 10:18 am

Hell, he’s got my vote and I don’t even live in Alabama! 😀
Patrick
April 24th, 2010 @ 10:18 am

Hell, he’s got my vote and I don’t even live in Alabama! 😀
Patrick
April 24th, 2010 @ 5:18 am

Hell, he’s got my vote and I don’t even live in Alabama! 😀
Thomas L. Knapp
April 24th, 2010 @ 12:35 pm

Wow. Someone really needs to drag that idiot down the hall to the toilet, give him a swirlie and send him home to mommy. You say he’s running for governor?
Thomas L. Knapp
April 24th, 2010 @ 12:35 pm

Wow. Someone really needs to drag that idiot down the hall to the toilet, give him a swirlie and send him home to mommy. You say he’s running for governor?
Thomas L. Knapp
April 24th, 2010 @ 7:35 am

Wow. Someone really needs to drag that idiot down the hall to the toilet, give him a swirlie and send him home to mommy. You say he’s running for governor?
Kathryn B.
April 24th, 2010 @ 1:18 pm

It’s nice to know that someone, especially someone in politics, agrees with my point of view. For years, I have been saying that you don’t go to someone else’s house and expect them to play by your rules. When Americans go overseas on vacation or for business reasons, they at least attempt to speak the language native to the country they are visiting. So why should we expect any less from immigrants who come to America to establish a residence. I believe it is high time that we Americans stand up and say “Our house, our rules! If you don’t want to speak English, feel free to leave and go back to your native land.” God bless America, my home sweet home. SEMPER FI!
Kathryn B.
April 24th, 2010 @ 1:18 pm

It’s nice to know that someone, especially someone in politics, agrees with my point of view. For years, I have been saying that you don’t go to someone else’s house and expect them to play by your rules. When Americans go overseas on vacation or for business reasons, they at least attempt to speak the language native to the country they are visiting. So why should we expect any less from immigrants who come to America to establish a residence. I believe it is high time that we Americans stand up and say “Our house, our rules! If you don’t want to speak English, feel free to leave and go back to your native land.” God bless America, my home sweet home. SEMPER FI!
Kathryn B.
April 24th, 2010 @ 8:18 am

It’s nice to know that someone, especially someone in politics, agrees with my point of view. For years, I have been saying that you don’t go to someone else’s house and expect them to play by your rules. When Americans go overseas on vacation or for business reasons, they at least attempt to speak the language native to the country they are visiting. So why should we expect any less from immigrants who come to America to establish a residence. I believe it is high time that we Americans stand up and say “Our house, our rules! If you don’t want to speak English, feel free to leave and go back to your native land.” God bless America, my home sweet home. SEMPER FI!
This Is Alabama. We Speak English.
April 24th, 2010 @ 9:30 am

[…] my fellow Alabama expat, Stacy McCain, I get the appeal of the ad. Frankly, ten years ago, I’d have been part of the target […]
Thomas L. Knapp
April 24th, 2010 @ 3:04 pm

Kathryn B.,

English is the language of England, not of America.

Americans always have used, and still use, many languages.

Your preference for English doesn’t make it”our rules.”
Thomas L. Knapp
April 24th, 2010 @ 10:04 am

Kathryn B.,

English is the language of England, not of America.

Americans always have used, and still use, many languages.

Your preference for English doesn’t make it”our rules.”
PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » English Skills and Signage
April 24th, 2010 @ 10:40 am

[…] RS McCain follows tags onto Tim James’ dictum that “This is Alabama. We speak English” with the statement “and the street signs are also in English” (see my previous post for context). […]
McGehee
April 24th, 2010 @ 4:32 pm

The first traffic accident I was in as a driver involved a car behind me being rear-ended so hard by a third driver that it was pushed into the back of my car — hard enough to bend my bumper and cave in the liftback.

The at-fault driver was some blonde farm-town gal but the people in the middle car spoke no English whatsoever that I could determine. Later on the gal tried to claim the middle car hit mine first and she only hit them after the original accident — but my passenger and I both remembered it very differently and her insurance company ended up cutting me a check.

If I hadn’t contradicted her lie, I wonder if the driver of the middle car would have been able to defend himself?
McGehee
April 24th, 2010 @ 11:32 am

The first traffic accident I was in as a driver involved a car behind me being rear-ended so hard by a third driver that it was pushed into the back of my car — hard enough to bend my bumper and cave in the liftback.

The at-fault driver was some blonde farm-town gal but the people in the middle car spoke no English whatsoever that I could determine. Later on the gal tried to claim the middle car hit mine first and she only hit them after the original accident — but my passenger and I both remembered it very differently and her insurance company ended up cutting me a check.

If I hadn’t contradicted her lie, I wonder if the driver of the middle car would have been able to defend himself?
English Speaker
April 24th, 2010 @ 5:00 pm

For a community and nation to be able to communicate with each other one language must be used. That language, in America, is English. English is also becoming the global language. It’s the “business norm” world wide.

America is a language where English is the standard. For us not to require our residents to learn to speak and write English is to their detriment and ours. Where there is no communication standards there is a mass breakdown of communication and understanding.
English Speaker
April 24th, 2010 @ 12:00 pm

For a community and nation to be able to communicate with each other one language must be used. That language, in America, is English. English is also becoming the global language. It’s the “business norm” world wide.

America is a language where English is the standard. For us not to require our residents to learn to speak and write English is to their detriment and ours. Where there is no communication standards there is a mass breakdown of communication and understanding.
English Speaker
April 24th, 2010 @ 5:06 pm

As for Arthur Davis, who could vote for him knowing he played an active part in our current economic crunch? And how can we forget his stance on Gitmo Interrogations? This guy is a loser. He’s a socialist. Most importantly, he is a follower and unable to lead. He’s got no common sense and is another who wants to see the U.S. crash.

Go to youtube.com and search “arthur davis fannie mae and freddie mac” and see what pops up.
English Speaker
April 24th, 2010 @ 12:06 pm

As for Arthur Davis, who could vote for him knowing he played an active part in our current economic crunch? And how can we forget his stance on Gitmo Interrogations? This guy is a loser. He’s a socialist. Most importantly, he is a follower and unable to lead. He’s got no common sense and is another who wants to see the U.S. crash.

Go to youtube.com and search “arthur davis fannie mae and freddie mac” and see what pops up.
brandon
April 24th, 2010 @ 5:59 pm

This is hilarious! Have you heard anyone from Alabama speak? You call that mumbling English? Dumbest state in the Union on most measures, right?

When people from Alabama visit, people from my state are hospitable about their language problems: we speak slowly and use mostly one-syllable words.

So many aspects of our sorry condition today can be traced to cheap stunts like this by politicians unwilling to work on our real problems.
brandon
April 24th, 2010 @ 12:59 pm

This is hilarious! Have you heard anyone from Alabama speak? You call that mumbling English? Dumbest state in the Union on most measures, right?

When people from Alabama visit, people from my state are hospitable about their language problems: we speak slowly and use mostly one-syllable words.

So many aspects of our sorry condition today can be traced to cheap stunts like this by politicians unwilling to work on our real problems.
Memo to Steve Taylor: You Can’t Drive If You Can’t Read the Road Signs : The Other McCain
April 24th, 2010 @ 2:31 pm

[…] matter, why bother suspending the licenses of DUI offenders? They’ll just drive drunk anyway.Tim James is right: If you want a drivers license, you need to pass the test in English, primarily because the road […]
EUR/USD Weekly Outlook | Learn Forex Trading
April 24th, 2010 @ 2:59 pm

[…] ‘This Is Alabama. We Speak English.’ : The Other McCain […]
McGehee
April 24th, 2010 @ 11:13 pm

Dumbest state in the Union on most measures, right?

What — did Illinois secede?
McGehee
April 24th, 2010 @ 11:13 pm

Dumbest state in the Union on most measures, right?

What — did Illinois secede?
McGehee
April 24th, 2010 @ 6:13 pm

Dumbest state in the Union on most measures, right?

What — did Illinois secede?
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April 24th, 2010 @ 7:56 pm

[…] 'This Is Alabama. We Speak English.' : The Other McCain […]
Naomi
April 25th, 2010 @ 4:07 am

Americans on vacation to foreign countries learn that language? That’s news to me, and most of the rest of the world. In my experience, Americans believe that just speaking louder will make a foreign language speaker understand them. Want a reason to have driving tests in foreign languages? I mean, other than the fact that this is a nation of immigrants and most of our ancestors came here speaking their native language, and we have no One Official Language? So that immigrants can get a license to drive a car and get to work. Y’all right-wingers don’t want anyone stepping foot on your soil and living on your tax dollars, but you also don’t want them to be able to get to a job and to places where they can learn English? Take a position and stick to it, please.
Naomi
April 25th, 2010 @ 4:07 am

Americans on vacation to foreign countries learn that language? That’s news to me, and most of the rest of the world. In my experience, Americans believe that just speaking louder will make a foreign language speaker understand them. Want a reason to have driving tests in foreign languages? I mean, other than the fact that this is a nation of immigrants and most of our ancestors came here speaking their native language, and we have no One Official Language? So that immigrants can get a license to drive a car and get to work. Y’all right-wingers don’t want anyone stepping foot on your soil and living on your tax dollars, but you also don’t want them to be able to get to a job and to places where they can learn English? Take a position and stick to it, please.
Naomi
April 24th, 2010 @ 11:07 pm

Americans on vacation to foreign countries learn that language? That’s news to me, and most of the rest of the world. In my experience, Americans believe that just speaking louder will make a foreign language speaker understand them. Want a reason to have driving tests in foreign languages? I mean, other than the fact that this is a nation of immigrants and most of our ancestors came here speaking their native language, and we have no One Official Language? So that immigrants can get a license to drive a car and get to work. Y’all right-wingers don’t want anyone stepping foot on your soil and living on your tax dollars, but you also don’t want them to be able to get to a job and to places where they can learn English? Take a position and stick to it, please.
Letter to Swedish human rights activist | Don't Fly South African Airways
April 25th, 2010 @ 10:48 am

[…] ‘This Is Alabama. We Speak English.’ […]
Larry
April 25th, 2010 @ 4:59 pm

I just posted this on my blog:

Imagine you are a legal visitor to this country. You have arrived here (Atlanta) from France, India, Mexico, Japan, Alabamastan, wherever. You want to settle down in this wonderful country, get a job, a house or apartment, become a citizen. You speak some English, but you are not fluent. One of the first things you would want to do, since Atlanta has the worst transit system of any major city, is get a drivers license. Well that could be a problem. You see, the Georgia Sludgeslature is considering a bill (SB 67) that would require all drivers license exams be given in English. This would mean that you would have to become fluent in English before getting the license, before you could get a car, before you could get a job that isn’t on the bus line, before you could get that aforementioned apartment or house. This would restrict your efforts, making those goals very difficult to obtain. Some would ask: “Why didn’t you learn English before you got here?” Well, you did, but as I said, you’re not fluent. The best way to get fluent in another language is to become immersed in it. So you could find a school that teaches English, but you don’t have a car to get there, nor a job to pay for it.

Let’s face it folks, the purpose of this bill is to keep the Mexicans out, it ain’t aimed at Canadians. But the sludges (that’s what the habitants of the Sludgeslature are called) don’t have the balls to say that. They talk about safety on the roads (State Senator Jack Murphy says that he believes that foreign drivers pose a danger because they cannot read English language road signs). We have spent a couple bazillion dollars in the past 30 years making our road signs readable for those who can’t. We ask potential drivers to identify signs based on their shape (red octagon = STOP, yellow triangle = YIELD, etc.). What about the people in Georgia who can’t read at all? Do we plan on banning them also. The quick answer to that is not only no, but hell no. Just think about the backlash from south Georgia or the north Georgia mountains if that is proposed. There would be so many pissed off rednecks you would think the state was trying to make them wear seat belts in their pickups.

This “English only” craze that is sweeping through the nation is nothing but “Our ancestors came here from somewhere else, learned English, got jobs and made it here. Now it’s time to keep everyone else out.” It’s like the family buying a new house that is on land that used to be full of trees. The developer cut them down to build houses. They like where they are because it’s in a quiet area next to some woods. Then when the developer starts building another subdivision they complain that he is cutting down “their” trees for someone else, can’t they leave SOME trees? It’s OK to clear cut the forest for us, but once we’re here, no more.

This country never has, and never should be English only. It was settled and built by, to name some, French, Spanish, Dutch, Irish, German, Polish, Italians, Chinese, and also English. Not to mention (I guess I have) the people that were here before us. The English language has become prominent, but in no way should it be the only one we allow.
Larry
April 25th, 2010 @ 4:59 pm

I just posted this on my blog:

Imagine you are a legal visitor to this country. You have arrived here (Atlanta) from France, India, Mexico, Japan, Alabamastan, wherever. You want to settle down in this wonderful country, get a job, a house or apartment, become a citizen. You speak some English, but you are not fluent. One of the first things you would want to do, since Atlanta has the worst transit system of any major city, is get a drivers license. Well that could be a problem. You see, the Georgia Sludgeslature is considering a bill (SB 67) that would require all drivers license exams be given in English. This would mean that you would have to become fluent in English before getting the license, before you could get a car, before you could get a job that isn’t on the bus line, before you could get that aforementioned apartment or house. This would restrict your efforts, making those goals very difficult to obtain. Some would ask: “Why didn’t you learn English before you got here?” Well, you did, but as I said, you’re not fluent. The best way to get fluent in another language is to become immersed in it. So you could find a school that teaches English, but you don’t have a car to get there, nor a job to pay for it.

Let’s face it folks, the purpose of this bill is to keep the Mexicans out, it ain’t aimed at Canadians. But the sludges (that’s what the habitants of the Sludgeslature are called) don’t have the balls to say that. They talk about safety on the roads (State Senator Jack Murphy says that he believes that foreign drivers pose a danger because they cannot read English language road signs). We have spent a couple bazillion dollars in the past 30 years making our road signs readable for those who can’t. We ask potential drivers to identify signs based on their shape (red octagon = STOP, yellow triangle = YIELD, etc.). What about the people in Georgia who can’t read at all? Do we plan on banning them also. The quick answer to that is not only no, but hell no. Just think about the backlash from south Georgia or the north Georgia mountains if that is proposed. There would be so many pissed off rednecks you would think the state was trying to make them wear seat belts in their pickups.

This “English only” craze that is sweeping through the nation is nothing but “Our ancestors came here from somewhere else, learned English, got jobs and made it here. Now it’s time to keep everyone else out.” It’s like the family buying a new house that is on land that used to be full of trees. The developer cut them down to build houses. They like where they are because it’s in a quiet area next to some woods. Then when the developer starts building another subdivision they complain that he is cutting down “their” trees for someone else, can’t they leave SOME trees? It’s OK to clear cut the forest for us, but once we’re here, no more.

This country never has, and never should be English only. It was settled and built by, to name some, French, Spanish, Dutch, Irish, German, Polish, Italians, Chinese, and also English. Not to mention (I guess I have) the people that were here before us. The English language has become prominent, but in no way should it be the only one we allow.
Larry
April 25th, 2010 @ 11:59 am

I just posted this on my blog:

Imagine you are a legal visitor to this country. You have arrived here (Atlanta) from France, India, Mexico, Japan, Alabamastan, wherever. You want to settle down in this wonderful country, get a job, a house or apartment, become a citizen. You speak some English, but you are not fluent. One of the first things you would want to do, since Atlanta has the worst transit system of any major city, is get a drivers license. Well that could be a problem. You see, the Georgia Sludgeslature is considering a bill (SB 67) that would require all drivers license exams be given in English. This would mean that you would have to become fluent in English before getting the license, before you could get a car, before you could get a job that isn’t on the bus line, before you could get that aforementioned apartment or house. This would restrict your efforts, making those goals very difficult to obtain. Some would ask: “Why didn’t you learn English before you got here?” Well, you did, but as I said, you’re not fluent. The best way to get fluent in another language is to become immersed in it. So you could find a school that teaches English, but you don’t have a car to get there, nor a job to pay for it.

Let’s face it folks, the purpose of this bill is to keep the Mexicans out, it ain’t aimed at Canadians. But the sludges (that’s what the habitants of the Sludgeslature are called) don’t have the balls to say that. They talk about safety on the roads (State Senator Jack Murphy says that he believes that foreign drivers pose a danger because they cannot read English language road signs). We have spent a couple bazillion dollars in the past 30 years making our road signs readable for those who can’t. We ask potential drivers to identify signs based on their shape (red octagon = STOP, yellow triangle = YIELD, etc.). What about the people in Georgia who can’t read at all? Do we plan on banning them also. The quick answer to that is not only no, but hell no. Just think about the backlash from south Georgia or the north Georgia mountains if that is proposed. There would be so many pissed off rednecks you would think the state was trying to make them wear seat belts in their pickups.

This “English only” craze that is sweeping through the nation is nothing but “Our ancestors came here from somewhere else, learned English, got jobs and made it here. Now it’s time to keep everyone else out.” It’s like the family buying a new house that is on land that used to be full of trees. The developer cut them down to build houses. They like where they are because it’s in a quiet area next to some woods. Then when the developer starts building another subdivision they complain that he is cutting down “their” trees for someone else, can’t they leave SOME trees? It’s OK to clear cut the forest for us, but once we’re here, no more.

This country never has, and never should be English only. It was settled and built by, to name some, French, Spanish, Dutch, Irish, German, Polish, Italians, Chinese, and also English. Not to mention (I guess I have) the people that were here before us. The English language has become prominent, but in no way should it be the only one we allow.
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April 26th, 2010 @ 4:17 am

[…] 'This Is Alabama. We Speak English.' : The Other McCain […]
The Greenroom » Forum Archive » Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and Vietnamese
April 27th, 2010 @ 10:17 am

[…] bloggers — and even some conservatives like James Joyner — there is a factual basis for James’s “This Is Alabama. We Speak English” ad — which now has had more than 60,000 […]
TERESSA
April 27th, 2010 @ 9:16 pm

James you have my vote even if I don’t live in Alabama. I TRAVEL IN THE STATE ALOT. I like the way you think,it is about time someone stood up for American borned and raised.You may have just started something.You thought about us we the people of the good old USA. Thank you
TERESSA
April 27th, 2010 @ 9:16 pm

James you have my vote even if I don’t live in Alabama. I TRAVEL IN THE STATE ALOT. I like the way you think,it is about time someone stood up for American borned and raised.You may have just started something.You thought about us we the people of the good old USA. Thank you
TERESSA
April 27th, 2010 @ 4:16 pm

James you have my vote even if I don’t live in Alabama. I TRAVEL IN THE STATE ALOT. I like the way you think,it is about time someone stood up for American borned and raised.You may have just started something.You thought about us we the people of the good old USA. Thank you
Island Girl
April 27th, 2010 @ 10:24 pm

Well, it’s about time some one took a stance and have the guts to say it. it seems the USA has become the attraction magnet for all people stupid.English shouls and must be the official language. I have heard some people of foreign birth say “it is a free country therefore they do not have to speak English”. Even if you consider english as the language of Imeperialism which it is, still there is no reason to have all these documents in just about every language. If one is illeterate, regardless of what language in which a document is written, he or she cannot read it. Stop catering.