John McCain Endorsed by Daddy Yankee

Say what?! Never heard of Daddy Yankee? Well, McCain knows who he is (probably never heard of him the week before). And he thinks this will somehow make him more popular with hispanic voters. I guess.

For the past month, one strategy of the McCain campaign has been to paint Barack Obama as a “worldwide celebrity.” Someone who is as idolized as much as a rock star, but who is - using their tagline - “not ready to lead.” Pundits and pollsters seem to agree that this has been a successful strategy and has resulted in a leveling of poll numbers.

Despite this, however, McCain spent a lot of time with his own celebrities yesterday.
First it was Daddy Yankee, the reggaeton star, who endorsed the Senator at a Phoenix High School — which prompted a few of the less-contemporary readers of this blog to write things like “who the heck is Daddy Yankee?” There were plenty of readers who seemed to like the singer. One visitor had an amusing and somewhat quizzical analogy:

“Haha! Daddy Yankee is the Sausage Haus of popular music,” wrote Agamemnon.

McCain thought the endorsement so important that he put on his website.

John McCain: "And it's a great legacy and a great responsibility for me to follow in the footsteps of some of those great leaders, both Republican or Democrat. So I hope you'll be involved. But most importantly, I know why you are sitting here, and that is not to listen to me so much, but I brought a special friend along with me today, a great American success story. As you know, he's from Puerto Rico. He's been married for 15 years. He has children aged 14, 12 and 10. One of his most famous songs, I know you're very familiar with, Gasolina. Well, here he is, Daddy Yankee."

...

Daddy Yankee: "Good morning. Good morning. It is a very special honor to be here this beautiful morning with everybody right here. This is very special school. It is a big pleasure to be with you.

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"It is a big pleasure that you guys invited me, and thanks to Senator McCain. And I am here endorsing Senator McCain because I believe in his ideals and his proposals to lead this nation. And like I said before, he has been a fighter for the Hispanic community, and I know that for me personally, I chose him as the best candidate because he has been a fighter for the immigration issue. So for me he is the best guy to lead this nation. And once again, I want to say thank you to everybody for the support it has given me in my entire career. This is a great honor sharing this beautiful morning with everybody. I am a man of few words but with a lot of action like I always said. Senator McCain, pleasure."