Ben Smith: Daddy Yankee tried to endorse Obama before endorsing McCain

And, regarding the endorsement of John McCain by reggaeton star Daddy Yankee, how could things not get even funnier?

If you missed it: On Monday Republican presidential candidate John McCain made a special appearance at Central High School in Phoenix, AZ - where his wife Cindy graduated in 1972 - and brought out Daddy Yankee for a public endorsement in front of 120 cheering students.

That afternoon I translated an excerpt from "Latigazo" - just one of Daddy Yankee's many raunchy songs (in it, he describes being with a woman who enjoys being hit, slapped, whipped and punched in and out of bed and sings about asking her to kiss a good buddy of his) - and wondered about the stupidity of staging an endorsement by such a misogynist recording artist at a high-school!

For Daddy Yankee the endorsement was supposedly all about McCain's track record on immigration issues (never mind that in moving to the right he has dropped most of his pro-immigration stands) and a Latina.com article says this of Daddy Yankee: "When we asked if he had plans to meet with Democratic candidate Barack Obama, Yankee responded with a curt, 'No.'"

Curtness indeed! Today Ben Smith at Politico says this:

A Democratic Party source tells me a representative for Daddy Yankee approached Obama's Latino outreach staffers earlier this year about possibly endorsing Obama. But he didn't pass the vetting, and Obama's aides said they weren't interested in his support. So, apparently, he moved over to McCain.

So here is John McCain, cluelessly walking into what seems to be an attempt by Daddy Yankee to use the presidential race to get publicity for his sputtering career. Damn! Just who is vetting who at the McCain camp?

If this had been an Obama endorsement event Fox News and the right-wing radio chatterers would be going crazy with this. And, as silly as it may be, you do have to wonder just how seriously clueless the McCain campaign is.

UPDATES: Fox News pipes up! If only to say that Daddy Yankee is denying he ever approached the Obama camp (no mention of his songs' lyrics though).

Also, there is a Hispanic Ledareship Fund press release out saying that Daddy Yankee will be headlining a Fiesta Latina concert on the opening night of the Republican National Convention (Sept. 1).

In the meantime, recording artist Fat Joe tells MTV that Daddy Yankee is a sell-out.

FACEBOOK GROUP: By the way, there is now a Latinos who reject Daddy Yankee's endorsement of McCain Facebook Group.

SIDE-NOTE: Ben Smith's original post on Politico was titled "Obama rebuffed by Yankee Daddy" which he quickly changed to Daddy Yankee when someone pointed out his mistake which shows how little about Latino pop culture some of of the most read bloggers know out there. Then there's Wonkette who says: "It was confusing when Hispanic rapper guy Daddy Yankee endorsed John McCain in person the other day, because who is Daddy Yankee?" which is actually a common sentiment out there as well. If you haven't heard about Daddy Yankee, then he must be a nobody, right?

RELATED:

• Barack Obama didn't want Daddy Yankee's endorsement anyway (Guanabee)
• Not all Latinos support Abuelo Yankee (Reggaetronica)
  

Update: Police say murder of transgender Latina teen was "provoked by her lifestyle"

[UPDATE: Upon being contacted by GLAAD, ABC News has changed the opening sentence of the article from "The beating death of a transgender teenager in Colorado may have been provoked by her lifestyle, police said" to "An 18-year-old found dead inside her Colorado apartment last week may have been targeted because she was transgender, police said"].

The murder of 18 year-old Angie Zapata in Colorado last week has been slowly gaining attention from national media with the latest report coming today from the national bureau at ABC News ("Transgender teen's death a hate crime?").

On Wednesday I noted that transgender blogger Monica Roberts at TransGriot was incensed that the original Associated Press article on the murder failed to disclose that Angie was transgendered (the AP reporter wrote a follow-up piece in which he wrote Zapata was "living as a woman").

David Scoetz at ABC News brings the discrepancy up indirectly:

While Zapata may have lived as a young woman, [Sgt. Joseph] Tymkowych, the police spokesman, explained that because she never legally changed her name to Angie, prosecutors can only bring charges in the case using Justin Zapata to identify the victim.

'We don't have a problem using 'Angie,'' Tymkowych said. 'We don't want to offend the family or anyone with gender concerns, but for it to be a good, clean prosecution, we can't identify a victim who doesn't exist.'

More disturbing to me is Sgt. Tymkowych's statement that the murder "may have been provoked by her lifestyle."

Being transgender is not a lifestyle just as being gay isn't (lifestyles can be easily changed, gender and sexual identities not so much) although I realize how entrenched these erroneous concepts are in some parts of society.

As for ABC News leading the piece with that statement, I realize they are paraphrasing someone else's words but their placement certainly gives them weight.

As for Angie's family, it's incredibly moving to see how much they loved her. They spoke to the local Colorado Fox News affiliate Fox 31 yesterday ("Family of transgender teen speak out"). You can find a link to a video interview with Angie's sister at the site.

Previosuly on Blabbeando:

• Transgender Latina teen murdered in Colorado (July 23, 2008)
• A vigil in memory of Shanesha Stewart (April 3, 2008)
• Melania Marquez has the best mom ever - or how to navigate high-school as a Latina trans teen (March 1, 2008)
• Texas high school opens doors for Latina teen after initial rejection (August 31, 2007)
• Latina teen elected prom queen at California high-school (May 14, 2007)
• Mexican-born trans man wants to be high school prom king in Fresno (April 21, 2007)
• Ruby Rodriguez is mourned in San Francisco (March 24, 2007)
  

Texas high school opens doors for Latina trans teen after initial rejection

A Latina transgender teen from Oak Cliff, Texas, was sent home by school officials on Monday when she showed up to register at Sunset High School wearing "a skirt, tight white shirt and ballet flats," according to a local Fox News Channel affiliate.

The teen, identified by Fox News with her birth name, Luis Valderrama, thought she had been sent home because her skirt was too short. But the school later apologized and invited her back to register for the school term on Wednesday.

Regarding the length of the skirt, Valderrama told Fox News "I'll compromise with them. I'll wear capris."

The school seems attended predominately by Latinos. A sign visible as a background to the online Fox News video report reads "La escuela comienza 8:45 am 8/7/07 Bienvenido al Mejor Ano df tu vida" - quirky grammar kept intact - which means "School starts 8:45am 8/7/07 Welcome to the best anus of your life" - I guess there was no plastic ñ letters to change "ano" to "año").