Political illiteracy is bilingual

In a show of solidarity with Mexican immigrants intending to convey that they're embracing American culture, some misguided souls have apparently gone and recorded the U.S. National Anthem in Spanish, according to the Associated Press.

One again, dear protesters, has a single one of you ever heard of PR? You know, that whole idea about crafting your message to make it most appealing to the people you're trying to influence or win favor with?

Do you not even pause to think, hey, if you take the National Anthem and sing it in Spanish, that might just offend the Americans you most need to persuade–you know, the same militantly patriotic xenophobes whose irrational fears you need to allay before you can make any popular political headway?

And as it would be downright un-American of our fearless leader not to offer comment:

President Bush said Friday that the anthem ought to be sung in English.

"I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English," he said at a Rose Garden question-and-answer session.

So apparently when you're a citizen, you have to learn English; but when you're the president, it's still optinal. This is the land of the free, after all.