I know Martin Bashir's from across the Pond, but surely he knows there's a difference between Cuban-Americans and Puerto Ricans, right?
During today's "Top Lines" montage feature on MSNBC's Martin Bashir program, producers threw together some comments that presidential contender and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) made recently about the matter of whether the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico should enter into the Union as a state. To illustrate their editorial comment on his views, they tossed in a clip of an outraged Desi Arnaz in his Ricky Ricardo persona from the 1950s sitcom, "I Love Lucy." Here's the relevant transcript [MP3 audio here; video follows page break]:
RICK SANTORUM: I was called by some of my colleagues in the United States Senate, Senador Puertoriqueno
They would have to speak English. That would be a requirement. It's a requirement that we put on other states.
You are not doing anybody on this island a favor by not following the law.
ARNAZ: You what?!
SANTORUM: What I said is English has to be learned as a language.
NEWT GINGRICH: This is clearly baloney.
It's mildly clever, perhaps, except for the fact that it betrays the ignorance of Mr. Bashir and/or his producers to the fact that Arnaz was Cuban-American, as was the character he played in the seminal 1950s sitcom, not Puerto Rican.
