In between swapping his iconic sweater vest for skin while sunbathing in Puerto Rico last week, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum added even more divisive rhetoric to his belt when he made the rather factually flawed remark that if the island commonwealth wanted statehood, it must \u201clike any other state\u2026[comply] with this and any other federal law\u2026 that English has to be the principal language.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

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Unsurprisingly, Republican Puerto Ricans rejected Santorum and his proposals when they took to the polling stations and voted instead for Mitt Romney, who recently cranked out a TV advertisement en espa\u00f1ol<\/em> that featured Governor Luis Fortuno.<\/p>\n

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While Santorum\u2019s political misstep cost him the 20 delegates the commonwealth has to offer, his factual faux pas translates quite well with the more radical conservative base in big-ticket states like Texas, California, and Arizona\u2014all of which are the most exposed and vocally opposed to Spanish-speaking immigrant populations given the strength and popularity of their respective anti-illegal immigration bills. As such (and as usual), what many may regard as an all-around gaffe, Tea Party conservatives view as a stroke of genius.<\/p>\n