Translingual Jeb Bush Says Different Things in English and Spanish
06/05/2015
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Jennifer Senior reports in New York on Jeb Bush, following up (via David Frum) on a lot of my surmises about the Jebster:

At home with Columba, Jeb speaks mainly in Spanish, which he refined during his three-year stint in Venezuela, where he opened a branch of the Texas Commerce Bank. Like many bilingual people, he thinks in his second language, not just speaks it, and it’s startling sometimes to hear him abruptly go to Spanish, mid-­sentence, continuing with the same verve. “When he switches from English to Spanish,” says Ros-Lehtinen, “he comes across as a warmer person. He’ll turn into a regular guy and not be so focused on being on-message.”

I’d had this very thought. Just over a month ago, while visiting Puerto Rico, the governor had been asked, in English, whether he’d ever attended a gay wedding or would consider doing so. He answered that no, he hadn’t, but “that’s not to say I wouldn’t.” He then followed up in Spanish with a much more forceful affirmation: Claro que sí. Of course he would attend a gay wedding.

Apparently, after all these decades, the Real Jeb is the Spanish-speaking one.

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