If Only He Chose Daddy Yankee To Be His VP

Unfortunately lost in the bloated political pageantry of the past two weeks' conventions was Daddy Yankee's endorsement of John McCain for president. "Who's Daddy Yankee?" my over-35 readers and everyone who'll be voting for McCain ask? Why he's the leading light of Reggateon, the Spanish-language, mainly Caribbean variation of hip-hop that would be soporific if it weren't so loud. His main hit, "Gasolina," from about three years ago, sparked lots of stories in the press about the genre's imminent mainstream breakthrough. (It never really happened.)

When I first heard this, I thought, Now wouldn't it be great if the McCain campaign actually tried to twist "Gasolina" into a paean for (the largely discredited) idea of expanding off-shore drilling, as McCain has come to embrace the past few weeks? As a further note for the over-35 or and all Republicans, "Gasolina" is not about gasoline, but vague slang for vulgar things that would make most moms, most especially Gov. Sarah Palin, blush. Unfortunately, McCain didn't take the opportunity; he's only courting the Hispanic vote. But, as ABC notes here, Mr. Yankee did on the campaign bus! That's actually kind of funny.

Other thoughts from the past couple weeks of politics:

* Watching Ted Kennedy's public death is fascinating. The last true embodiment of a Kennedy, his death will be the end of an era. He could retire, slyly engineer the election to replace him and cement his legacy as the most profound senator of the past 25 years. Instead, he gives the most stirring speech of the whole Democratic convention -- after having spent the previous night in a Denver hospital with kidney stones! (The story was obviously given to the press to amplify the heroics, but it really was the Willis Reed of speeches.) The Globe pretty much published his obituary the day his brain cancer was announced and devoted the top half of the front page to him. What will they do when he actually dies? Even the Herald venerates him these days. Here's the speech:



* Bristol Palin's pregnancy is news. First, if it weren't news why would the McCain-Palin campaign send a press release about it? Second, for a vice presidential pick who likely only believes in teaching abstinence and opposes educating about condoms and other forms of birth control given her conservative Christian positions, shouldn't her own teenage daughter's pregnancy suggest that maybe, um, abstinence doesn't work? As my cousin recently noted in his Gmail away message, the face of Bristol's new fiancee at the convention was priceless. He was meeting the in-laws at the convention. Beautiful. And even though his first name is Levi, he's not Jewish -- he has Bristol's name tattooed around his finger; huh?! -- though it would be amusing if a Jew were joining the Palin family considering she probably thinks we're all going to hell. Is it inappropriate to say here that the Palin daughters, but not the really young one, are kind of attractive in that "Real World" kind of way?

* By any standard Sarah Palin is woefully unqualified to be vice president. Six years ago she was the mayor of an 8,000-person town. She's governed Alaska for less than two years. Would you say the mayor of that small town near where you grew up is qualified? How about the mayor of Boston? No and No. That McCain's campaign points to both positions, including her time leading Alaska's National Guard, as examples of executive experience is offensive. Her boisterous talking points -- declining "The Bridge to Nowhere"; selling the state jet on eBay, among others -- have been debunked by the press, yet she obstinately soldiers on repeating them. She repeats the same speech on the stump, over and over, and won't talk to the press. Overall, the whole campaign is treating the press -- and, by extension, fact -- as useless. TNR, as always has some great blog posts, highlighting the lunacy of it all. McCain-Palin's bump in the polls is tragically just another example of this country's general preference for someone who "seems real" (and likely isn't) over the truth.

* How is McCain genuinely running an underdog, part-of-the-minority campaign? He (and now Palin) rail against Washington's bloated, liberal incompetence as though even though he's been one of the leaders of the party that's run Washington for most of the past 28 years. Huh? Those who try to counter with McCain's "maverick" sensibilities, please note his general apostasy on that the past four-plus years. Please read Rick Hertzberg's thoughts here to understand fully how idiotic this and Romney's pitiful RNC speech are.

* Should Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, be banished from the tribe for speaking at the RNC? No, not the Democratic tribe (as some high-ranking ones are thinking); the more spiritual one. That comment took my parents by surprise a couple nights ago, and, yes, there are lots of Jewish Republicans around. But Republicanism circa 2008, largely thanks to Bush, Rove et al -- and being prolongated by McCain -- is about bigotry, intolerance, a drumbeat approach to news that borders on propaganda, and a culture of disregarding the truth. We all know where that's brought us historically.