Mallard Fillmore lies - like the rest of his ilk

Today's Mallard Fillmore (which is in the local paper, unfortunately) represents Barack Obama as saying:

"Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English... you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish."

Senator Obama's actual words:

"I agree that immigrants should learn English. But instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they'll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language."

In other words, inside that ellipsis is Obama's statement of belief that immigrants will learn English without the need of legislation (though help would be nice). What he's saying is almost as far away from what the cartoon implies as is possible; not the full 180, of course; that would be a declaration that since English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for anybody, but certainly not a "surrender" to immigrants and a call to abandon English. It's quote-mining worthy of the Discovery Institute, it is!

As I said in the letter I sent the editor, "What Bruce Tinsley did is called "quote mining" and it's about as dishonest as you can get. I realize that it's a political cartoon, but are there no standards left, even on your op-ed page?" The answer, I expect, is "No"...