June 08, 2007

Life Imitates Art, or A Tale of Two Senators


I find this rather eerie:

G.D. Spradlin as Senator Pat Geary, The Godfather Part II (1974) --

"For years now a growing number of my constituents have been of Italian descent, and I have come to know them well. They have honored me with their support and with their friendship. Indeed, I can say that some of my very best friends are Italian Americans. Now, Mr. Chairman, at this time and unfortunately, I have to leave these proceedings in order to preside over a very important meeting of my own committee. But before I leave, I do want to say this: that these hearings on the Mafia are in no way whatsoever a slur upon the great Italian people, because I can state from my own knowledge and experience that Italian Americans are among the most loyal, most law abiding, patriotic, hard-working American citizens in this land, and it would be a shame, Mr. Chairman, if we allow the few rotten apples to give a bad name to the whole barrel, because from the time of the great Christopher Columbus, up through the time of Enrico Fermi, right up until the present day, Italian Americans have been pioneers in building and defending our great nation. They are the the salt of the earth, and they are one of the backbones of this country. "


"My friends, we know what we're talking about is the latest wave of migrants into this country. We have to stop the illegal immigration. But we've had waves throughout our history. Hispanics is what we're talking about, a different culture, a different language, which has enriched my state, where Spanish was spoken before English was. My friends, I want you the next time you're down in Washington, D.C., to go to the Vietnam War Memorial and look at the names engraved in black granite. You'll find a whole lot of Hispanic names. When you go to Iraq or Afghanistan today, you're going to see a whole lot of people who are of Hispanic background. You're even going to meet some of the few thousand that are still green card holders who are not even citizens of this country, who love this country so much that they're willing to risk their lives in its service in order to accelerate their path to citizenship and enjoy the bountiful, blessed nation. So let's, from time to time, remember that these are God's children. They must come into our country legally. But they have enriched our culture and our nation, as every generation of immigrants before them. Thank you."

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home