Newt Gingrich tries to apologize for his dislike of Mexicans

April 5, 2007

Washington, D.C. - Newt Gingrich tried to apologize yesterday via YouTube for his "ghetto" slur against Mexicans, but he didn't exactly apologize.

As a soon-to-be Republican candidate for the 2008 presidential race, Gingrich hastily put together a video for YouTube conceding his word choice was "poor."

In the statement, posted testerday, Gingrich said his comments were not an "attack" on Spanish.

At no point does Gingrich offer an outright apology in either language.

In a speech Saturday to the National Federation of Republican Women, Gingrich said English should be the language exclusively used by government in the United States.

He also said bilingual education should be replaced with immersion in English "so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto."

Gingrich's remarks, particularly his use of the word "ghetto," have drawn fire from Latino groups. While the former speaker did not directly apologize in his statement, he did concede that "my word choice was poor."

Gingrich also said, "It was not my intention to offend the Latino community, and I hope you accept this message in the manner in which it is being conveyed, with a sincere heart."

Gingrich, a Georgian who led House Republicans into power in 1994, has said he will announce by September whether he will seek the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll in early March showed Gingrich was the choice of 9 percent of likely Republican voters nationwide, which put him in a tie for third place with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney but well behind the front-runners, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

However, the poll also showed Gingrich, who was a polarizing figure during his years in Congress, had the highest negative ratings of any of the potential GOP candidates, with 43 percent of Americans viewing him unfavorably and just 25 percent favorably. Even a third of registered Republicans had a negative opinion of Gingrich, the poll found.