Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Politics / Woods The Quiet Campaign To Beat English Only
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 8:49 PM
It's a big moment for Nashville's so-called progressives. But can a disorganized gang of dreamers and do-gooders take their heads out of the clouds long enough to beat Eric Crafton's English Only initiative? This week's Scene looks at their campaign, such as it is.
It's been pretty quiet, hasn't it? That's intentional, they say. Here's their basic problem: The more people know about the Jan. 22 referendum, the better Crafton's odds. That's because, let's face it, Nashville's xenophobes greatly outnumber the rest of us.
If this proposal were on the ballot in a regular election, it would win overwhelmingly. But this is a special election, so turnout should be anemic, giving the progressives a fighting chance. All they need to do is very quietly identify their voters and then turn them out. (David Briley's email, which we learned about today on Post Politics, is part of the effort.) They also have to hope Crafton is too cocky, lazy and stupid to do the same thing, all of which seem like reasonable assumptions. Which brings us back to the question: Can the progressives pull it off?
I'm betting that they can. Then it'll be time for Item #2 on the progressive agenda: Crafton's recall. (I'm such a big dreamer.)
Comments (4)
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La estimada escena de Nashville, imprime por favor las escenas libres de Nashville cada edición en español y otras ediciones de la lengua. Quiero ver cómo rápidamente usted sube vientre. Éste debe ser su, su tan Nashville si mantra de Koan: " Recuerde el Alamo". De hecho sugiero que usted impresión de la parada que la escena de Nashville en inglés en absoluto esto enseñe Tennessee medio a las personas de habla inglesa a dar rápidamente para arriba nuestra lengua materna que nos fuerza a ser educado mejor así que podemos más flúido adaptarnos al droping de nuestra nación y las fronteras de estado y el Amero pueden substituir el dólar difunto. ¡Seremos así que listo para el NAFTA entonces que bailaremos en las calles con la alegría entusiasta, VIEJA!
English Translation thanks to Yahoo Babel Fish
Dear Nashville Scene, please print free Nashville Scenes every issue in Spanish and other language editions. I want to see how fast you go belly up. This should be your, Your so Nashville if Koan Mantra :"Remember the Alamo". In fact I suggest you stop printing the Nashville Scene in English at all this will
teach Middle Tennessee English Speakers to quickly give up our native tongue forcing us to be better educated so we can more fluidly adapt to the droping of our Nation and State borders and the Amero can replace the defunct dollar. We will be so ready for NAFTA then we will dance in the streets with zealous joy, OLE!
Go ahead call me a hidebound English speaking "God Save the Queen Curmudgeon." It was a mistake to leave the English Crown to begin with.
Or LOL -Disparaissent m'appellent en avant un " d'expression anglaise borné ; Dieu sauvent la Reine Curmudgeon." ; C'était une erreur pour laisser la couronne anglaise pour commencer par. Ah le serment en français fait on se sentir comme on essuie ceux âne avec la soie.
>please print free Nashville Scenes every issue in Spanish and other language editions
Yeah, because requiring something to always be done is TOTALLY the same thing as not forbidding it to ever be done.
Sheesh.
Jeff, you guys have some work to do because every time the Tennessean prints a story about the initiative, they get like 60 reader responses, mostly along the lines of "Nashville is becoming a third world city" or "Crafton is great" or "if you can't speak English, you should go home."
But seriously, I'm not sure I agree that this would have passed if on the ballot during the Presidential election. I kind of think it would have been defeated then but now I'm not sure. Special elections boil down to who is the most committed. The only wild card is how many of those yahoo reader comments in the Tennessean actually come from Davidson county residents.
