[Drudge] Bush sang Star Spangled Banner en español

Awesome.

Bush sang Star Spangled Banner en español during 2000 campaign
Wed May 03 2006 09:35:20 ET

"When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, George W. Bush would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Spanish, sometimes partying with a “Viva Bush” mariachi band flown in from Texas."

So writes author Kevin Phillips in his book AMERICAN DYNASTY.

Last week, at the height of the illegal immigrant's boycott build up, Bush told reporters: "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English."

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash7.htm

 

Also:


Despite Bush's English-only stance, Spanish is old tradition
By CLAUDIA FELDMAN and EYDER PERALTA
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

President Bush has spoken out against the translated version of the national anthem, saying it should be sung in English only. If so, that's actually a break with American tradition, says Walter Kamphoefner, a history professor at Texas A&M University.


The Library of Congress archives dozens of versions of the anthem, including a couple in German and a Spanish translation commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education in 1912.

Producer Adam Kidron used those same lyrics — antiquated and awkward — for the version meant as an anthem of solidarity for those protesting the immigration bill. Now it's titled Nuestro Himno and it hit airwaves Friday. Back in 1912, it was called La Bandera de las Estrellas, a literal translation of The Star-Spangled Banner.

It was German immigrants in Texas who created what may be the first translation of the anthem. Hermann Seele, one of the first mayors of New Braunfels, wrote it for a festival in Galveston in 1851.

"It received no adverse Anglo reaction that I'm aware of," Kamphoefner says. "At the same festival there was also a reading, in German, of the Declaration of Independence."

In 2001, when President Bush was inaugurated, Jon Secada sang America the Beautiful in Spanglish. But he never sang the national anthem in Spanish, said his publicist Michael Caprio, as is being widely reported.

The bilingual tribute seemed natural. Fresh from his first presidential win, Bush was popular with Hispanic voters.

Halfway through his second term, however, the immigration bill is one of many issues polarizing the country.

Bush's supporters, "are the true believers, and they don't like anthems in Spanish, and they think the president is wrong in his middling position on immigration," says University of Houston political science professor Richard W. Murray. "So the president is sending a signal that there are limits on how far he's willing to go on this."

Carolyn Marvin, a professor at University of Pennsylvania, says the anthem debate is more about the immediate political dilemma than American nationalism.

"In the absence of the current demonstrations, I suspect this would not have garnered the attention it's getting," she says.

Marvin, who is writing a book about the flag and nationalism, says the president could have used the controversy as a "teachable moment, to show that the values of our national anthem are worthy of translation."

Adds Kamphoefner, "One of the most important ways of transmitting American values and loyalty to the U.S. is by means of translation. Ethnic editors have been doing that literally since the first translation of the Declaration of Independence to German." The date: July 9, 1776

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/3839009.html