Behar Suggests Arizona Like Nazi Germany for Requiring Teachers to Speak English Well

On Tuesday’s Joy Behar Show, HLN host Behar again suggested that an activity by the state of Arizona could be compared to Nazi Germany, as she discussed plans by the state’s education department to stiffen English-speaking requirements for teachers. Introducing the subject with comedians Mo Rocca and Colin Quinn, after taking a shot at former President Bush’s speaking skills, she asked does the requirement "remind you of any country, 1940ish?" Behar:

The Arizona Department of Education is cracking down on teachers with thick accents or who make grammatical errors when speaking. Well, there goes Snooki`s shot at teaching Algebra in Phoenix. Okay, and what about George Bush and his grammatical errors all those years? They are getting rid of teachers because they have accents in Arizona. Remind you of any country, 1940ish?

Over the past several weeks, during debates over Arizona’s attempt to enforce laws similar to federal immigration laws, Behar has repeatedly made direct and indirect references to Nazi Germany both on the Joy Behar Show and on ABC’s The View to disparage the Arizona law.

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Tuesday, May 25, Joy Behar Show on HLN:

JOY BEHAR: The Arizona Department of Education is cracking down on teachers with thick accents or who make grammatical errors when speaking. Well, there goes Snooki`s shot at teaching lgebra in Phoenix. Okay, and what about George Bush and his grammatical errors all those years? They are getting rid of teachers because they have accents in Arizona. Remind you of any country, 1940ish?

COLIN QUINN, COMEDIAN: Oh, my God, reminds me of you when you used to teach with that accent.

MO ROCCA, COMEDIAN: Yeah.

BEHAR: Exactly, exactly.

ROCCA: Joybonics.

(LAUGHTER)

BEHAR: Their accent-

QUINN: They`re going to be teachers like Scarface. Listen, kids, the Pythagorean theorem.

BEHAR: These youts, remember that? That`s hilarious. But, now, you grew up in an accented house, and yet you went got through Harvard.

ROCCA: Yes, it`s true. It was a hardscrabble upbringing, and I clawed my way over the fence across the dry bed of the Rio Grande and made my way to Harvard. No, my mother is Colombian and she has a very thick accent. And she wouldn`t want me, you know, it`s okay for me to come in this building now, but when Lou Dobbs was here, she wouldn`t want me coming here at all. She was afraid she’d get deported just by me being here.

BEHAR: Well, I was scared to come here also when he was here.

QUINN: I don’t buy any of it. Colombians, they don`t like Mexicans at all. They`re the biggest snobs in the whole South America.

ROCCA: Oh, say hello to my little friend.

QUINN: Am I right or wrong?

ROCCA: Is that right? Sorry. Yes, no. Colombians speak the purest Spanish in all of Latin America. We have the second most bananas in the world and the most emeralds, as well. And we have both oceans, we have mountain coast lines, we have valleys.

BEHAR: Okay, that`s fascinating.