Can’t We All Just Sing Along?

[[O O P S]] * Although The Washington Post has often served over the last five years as an apologist for George W. Bush, today’s paper certainly paints the prez as a hypocrite for his declaration last week that “The Star-Spangled Banner” should only be sung in English, not Spanish. “[H]e evidently never told his own government or campaign organizations,” the Post explains.

The State Department posts four Spanish versions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on its Web site, and accounts from the 2000 election suggest that the song was at times performed in Spanish at Bush campaign events. Critics even turned up one reference to Bush himself singing the anthem in Spanish on the trail, but there was no confirmation.

As I’ve asked before, how stupid do Republicans think we are?

TO THE MOON, LAURA: This whole stupid, right-wing flap over whether the national anthem should be sung in Spanish reminds me of last year’s hoopla about a nonexistent “war on Christmas.” You remember that, right? Jerry Falwell and Bill O’Reilly alleged that secularists were trying to take religion out of the December 25 holiday, but first lady Laura Bush blithely failed to toe the party line. Well, now she’s gone and told CNN’s John King that “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with singing [‘The Star-Spangled Banner’] in Spanish.” Kinda makes you wonder whether George and Laura ever talk to each other outside of photo-ops.

READ MORE: “The Irrational Anthem: Sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ in English? Who’s Bush Kidding?” by Jacob Weisberg (Slate); “Lamar Alexander: Talking Bilingualism Out of Both Sides of His Mouth” (Think Progress); “Nuestro Himno” (The Washington Post).