ABOUT FIRST READ

First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



A different kind of 'gasoline' for McCain

Posted: Monday, August 25, 2008 3:09 PM by Mark Murray

From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
PHOENIX, AZ -- At his wife's high school alma mater today, McCain made a push for the youth vote with an endorsement from Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee, whose real name is Ramon Ayala. The campaign called a "press conference" in the Central High School library where Yankee -- who McCain called Ramon -- announced his support for McCain.

"I'm here endorsing Sen. McCain because I believe in his ideas and his proposal to lead this nation," he said, as high school girls swooned on a riser behind him. "And like I said before, he's been a fighter for the Hispanic community and I know that me personally, I choose him as the best candidate because he's a fighter for the immigration issue. So for me he's the best guy to lead this nation."

Yankee is most famous for his song "Gasolina," which translates to "gasoline" -- but has nothing to do with offshore drilling or McCain's energy policy mantra "drill here, drill now."

A rough translation of the song's chorus, "A ella le gusta la gasoline -- dame mas gasoline," shows that Yankee might be singing about a different kind of "gasoline" than McCain talks about on the stump. The singer proclaims, "My babe doesn't stop from hanging out because she likes gasoline," to which a female singer echoes, "give me more gasoline."

Although the campaign told the press corps that today's event was going to be a "press conference," it turns out that the only members of the media who might have had the opportunity to ask McCain questions were reporters from the school's paper. As McCain and Yankee shook hands following the endorsement, students were funneled towards the musician by the senator, receiving a quick, "Sup, papa" or "How you doin' lady?" as they shook Yankee's hand.

The only reference McCain made to the convention beginning in Denver tonight was a vague compliment directed towards his opponent.

"This is a tough presidential campaign we're in," McCain said. "I have a very honorable opponent, and one who will receive the nomination of his party this week in Denver. And I look forward to the last couple months of the campaign with him."

McCain has not spoken to the press since August 13 in Birmingham, MI -- the day his wife sprained her wrist at a fundraiser.

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HEY CINDY !!

Where'd you find the MIDGET ?

Why don't you 'trade up', doll ?

You can do better than THAT !!
McCain: "I have a very honorable opponent, and one who will receive the nomination of his party this week in Denver."

The clearest indicator yet that McCain is lying through his teeth when he says Obama would rather lose a war than lose an election.

Unless McCain was brainwashed by the Vietnamese to believe treason can be honorable, there is no way to square the two statements.

And, yes, Sen McCain... questioning whether your opponent wants to lose a war is questioning his patriotrism.

Obama is right. Its like these guys take pride in being ignorant.
"Can someone explain to me why we aren't smart enough to learn our lesson from the past eight years?"

To CSGM P:
I can explain that in one word: Religion!  Haven't you noticed how the true antichrist, Ralph Reed, mobilized his unholy christian conspiracy to help get "Alzheimer" Reagan elected almost 30 years ago?  Ever since then the repugnant ones have abused religion as their way to divide and conquer our secular democracy to win elections.

Now General Betray-Us has written a foreword for a new book in which he states that all soldiers should carry the bible for inspiration and that non-christian soldiers hurt troop morale.  It wasn't the bible that inspired our forefathers to rebel against a tyrant king, it was a terrific liberal pamphlet written by liberal Thomas Payne called "Common Sense" (something sorely lacking in our country for the past 30 years).  During the darkest days of the Revolution it wasn't the bible that inspired our Revolutionary War soldiers to keep serving our fledgling democracy, it was another liberal pamphlet entitled "The Crisis" that kept our starving army together and inspired them to prevail.  These liberal pamphlets, instead of the bible, should be what all of our troops carry for inspiration!

Religion is the oldest social control tool in the book, and the most vile and inhumane.  The bible was written to dumb down the masses so they would be easier to control because the bible preaches blind faith.  A real American questions authority, that has been the hallmark of our great democracy.

Thanks much for yours, your son's and everyone's military service to our country.  I served under that crooked commander in chief Nixon during 'Nam and thanks to Watergate I spent 11 months successfully playing Catch-22 against the Army to get out early because we didn't have that nonsensical stop-loss program now in place that is tantamount to slavery.  I know when we've been sold out to fight an unnecessary war with no intention of winning so that the repugnant ones can have perpetual war for political advantage and Iraq is just another wrong war at the wrong time and in Afghanistan and Pakistan Al Qaeda grows ever stronger.

I'm glad you've gotten smart and started posting from an undisclosed location considering what happened to the honest whistleblower a week or so ago who got fired for pointing out that there's yet another mold problem now in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  Supporting our troops isn't done by pasting some stupid bumper sticker on a car, it's voting for politicians who won't abuse the loyalty of our troops or cut funding for veterans the way the repugnant ones have done for the past 30 years!

"Warmonger" McCain has proven he has no loyalty to our troops or veterans during his political career, now he only cares about retention so that he keeps our brave soldiers enslaved for his new wars of imperialism.
jerry/corpus christi texas:  ‘…Hillary would be wise to sit this one out.  With all the taxes that Obama is pledging to raise, everyone knows he will be a one termer….’

Jerry, thanks for 'looking out' for Hillary
ALL THE Republicans are crying crocodile tears for her
If you REALLY want ot help, send her some money, honey

Her 18 million zombies aren’t really THAT GENOROUS !!


 ‘… it will be a fight to the death in 2012 for the democrats.  Obama is this guy who everybody thinks is going to save them from whatever problem they themselves have caused.  But it is the do nothing congress that will lead to an ultimate defeat for the democrats….’

At least we won’t be in a war with Iran and we won’t have a draft

Obama says he’ll raise taxes on those making OVER $250,000.00 per year

H3;ll lower them for those making UNDER $200,000.00 per year

That’s even better than McCain’s Great ‘Gas Tax Rebate’, jerry

WHERE’S MY $1.80 ?
I was counting on that !!


Thad Cochrane (R-Miss):  '    "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Cochran said about McCain by phone. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."...'

John McCain, Temperamentally UNFIT for the Presidency

Crashing planes and haunting strip joints is NOT Presidential ‘Experience’




Is it me because if it is Ill stop,it just seems you would want a different veiw than the boring chatter of I love this guy I hate this guy NOBAMMA and McLAME but please post or we will have to go to obermans blog with all 7 of his posters
How does Abba sound in Reggae?  
Obama needs to go hard and deep about McCains character!

He needs a new add now about how McCain degrades and disrespects women.

1. Calling his wife the "C" word!

2. Wanting his wife to go topless at the Buffalo Chip Contest!

3. How women should only speak if spoken to!

4. How women do not deserve the right to choose!

5. Laughing when someone in New Hampshire ask McWife-beater how do we beet the B%#&h! The questioner was referring to Hillary Clinton

6. How McNo-women allowed; will not let Cindy speak at the Retughlican Convention, you know the meeting of all the top Crime Family’s in United States in Minnesota next week!

MCAIN WILL NOT LET CINDY MCCAIN SPEAK AT THE CRIME FAMILY CONVENTION NEXT WEEK!
[[ My babe doesn't stop from hanging out because she likes gasoline," to which a female singer echoes, "give me more gasoline."  ]]


That's what our women folk are going to have to start doing, and charging for it, so we can pay for gas if the Democrats don't get off their fat posteriers and solve some of these energy problems. And if the Democrats don't want to do it, as it appears they don't, they'll need to step aside and let some one that does.
I have a right to do old geezer stupid crap.  Pee Oh DoubleU.  Are we straight?!  God you people are a bunch of whiners!  Top this Barack.
This is a really big endorsement - I'm sure Senator Obama is very disappointed that he didn't get the nod!

lol

Gasolina indeed.

Too bad Senator McCain can't raise his game to the level of his "very honorable opponent". The McCain campaign philosophy seems to be "If at first you don't succeed - SMEAR, LIE, and DISTORT."

P.S. I tried to watch Morning Joe-ke this morning - but I'm happy to report that the Olympic hiatus cured me! YAY! (Why exactly is Mika there? What does she add to the program other than a semi-earnest look and head nods? )
The Audacity Of Difference:

Yes these ads are negative. But, palatable, even fun for undecideds, and moderates. People will actually enjoy watching these ads, instead of feeling like they've been raped by the same old, hostile politics. The Obama campaign is pure genius.

All I have to say is to BE CAEFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR (by voting for McLiar), YOU JUST MAY GET IT.

Oh, First Read, you guys are just too hip! You going to do the White Guy Dance later on too?
"And like I said before, he's been a fighter for the Hispanic community"

****

Since when???

*facepalms*

McCain has no subtly to his pandering.
MUY BIEN.  
"Gaffe Machine" McCain's not speaking to the press for almost two weeks explains why he hasn't been making his usual daily verbal gaffes.  I guess after his latest gaffe offering his wife to enter the Miss Buffalo Chip beauty contest he's very wise to stay out of the limelight.  What kind of male chauvinist pig would offer up his wife for a beauty contest where the contestants try to bare as much of their ill repute in order to win.  Or is there something kinky about his wife that he's not sharing.  Too bad the MSM doesn't dig into that possibility or grill him more on his clueless offer?

Hey I caught Chuck Todd anchoring an hour on MSNBC tv.  He did a great job and hopefully he'll get more face time on MSNBC tv and he'll bring in the First Read team to get their face time too.

Only Obama/Biden will protect and advance women's rights, especially the right to choose!

Go Obama/Biden 08/12!
What a "celebrity" McCain is!
McCain,

...never voted for a bill that would help the middle class
...never voted for a bill that would hurt the rich and powerful.
...voted to deregulate business and industry and enabled Bush/Cheney to install "foxes in the hen houses" that were supposed to protect consumers and workers.  
...never voted for a bill that would help women or children or veterans or workers
...never had to balance a check book, never had to worry about health care, his mother ran the finances when he was young and his wife does it now.  
...had no clue how many homes he and his wife had (seven) and had no clue what kind of car he drove (Cadillac CTS).  
...plays the POW card as an excuse for everything.  
he was a soldier, not a leader -- he never held a rank that required thinking, just following orders.  HE IS NOT A LEADER.  
...and for a "foreign policy" so-called expert, his knowledge of geography is appalling.  


McCain, a noun, a verb and I was a POW, my friends
or
McCain, a noun, a verb and "the SURGE worked", my friends.  

McCain, four more years of Bush/Cheney failed policies.
Yeah, sure, McFossil makes a push for the youth vote. Yeah, I can see the youth voting for a 72 year old, who can't use a computer let alone text messages, and owns 8 homes........yeah, that's going to happen....NOT!
Wow!!! McCain is real hip now. I highly doubt Sen McCain has any Daddy Yankee records to play on his phonograph. He's still waiting for an ABBA reunion
Comparing the two candidate's message to Hispanics, shows a stark difference in McCain's, and Obama's attitude toward them.

McCain sees them as fodder for his wars, and trouble on the borders, but Obama sees their potential to rise to the heights of society, which has been the sole bastion of White Americans, the Oval Office.

He is working to empower them, today. Just as AAs have been shown the level of power they held in their hands, by being unified in their voting bloc, Hispanics have that same power too. Senator Obama openly gives them credit. Perhaps he has informed them of something they too, like Blacks, may not have known before this election. He has said this election may actually rest in their hands.

The affirmation of solidarity given by White Americans, who love the promise of equality for all our citizens, is a beautiful thing.

Equality for all. Empowerment for all. Respect for all. I love my American brothers, and sisters, and GOD Bless America.
Are you sure Gasolina doesn't refer to "drill here, drill now" ???
 what?
Now THAT'S funny!

Someone should have played Senator McCain a snippet of his new "friend's" works, before they went out soliciting endorsements.  

I can't wait for the "values voters" in McCain's base to get an earful of some of Daddy Yankee's lyrics.  They won't be on board with this endorsement, at all.

McCain's no friend of the Latino community!  He recently threw them under the bus by showing his true neo con colors and shedding his so called maverick feathers, when he stated he would not vote for his own immigration reform law from sometime ago!  

McCain hates the hispanic community, except when they are cleaning all his 7 houses!
LOL! This coming from a man who called Obama a celerity?  Daddy Yankee endorsing McCain?  Please, Daddy Yankee has not had a hit song in years, and last I checked, most high school kids can't vote!!  If they could they wouldnt listen to Daddy Yankee.  They would vote Obama!

The only thing that McCain knows about imigration is how to build walls around the Mexican border.  He will do nothing to help our friends to the south.

Obama/Biden 08

"Si Su Puede"
and the young, 'hip' vote goes to McCain.  The Democrats have, once again, put forward a loser at the top of the ticket.  This time, of course, we'll be told that we're racists if we don't vote for a candidate who has no experience, no new ideas, and only empty rhetoric to recommend him.  Way to go, Dems.
Does McCain really think this will help? Really?

REALLY?

This is almost as bad as Romney's "Bling Bling" line.  

http://lastofourkindblog.blogspot.com
this is a bad endorsement. Most Latino/as, like myself, don't like reggeaton because it is offensive to women. Plus it won't help considering that Obama leads McCain 2-1 with Latinos.
Gasoline? McCain hasn't pumped his own gas in decades...nor drive himself...except maybe in a "depends" related emergency.
What's the point of writing your stories and publishing them here if you are not trying to encourage discussion on the matters. You throw up numerous stories or comments but don't post any comments from the readers / bloggers for hours.

You guys need to get with it. By the time you post any comments from the readers / bloggers this election will be over. Of course if all you are trying to do is provide a forum to post and admire your own writings well have at it. We bloggers can move on.    
Well, with the endorsement of the trusted political stallwort, Daddy Yankee, how can I not vote for the Senator from Arizona.

By the way, the first sentence here states that McCain campaigned at his wife's high school Alma Mater. Would that be Cindy, or the other wife - the disabled one he left after she spent years waiting for him while McCain was a POW and then cheated on her with the wealthy heiress to a beer distibution fortune?
Too bad the average high schooler isn't old enough to vote, McCain. If that's your best try at winning the youth vote you might as well have never tried.
lol...High School kids are not that stupid!
Its easy to see that McCain shouldn't speak to the press. Someone who can't remember how many homes they have should be allowed to speak to the press. McCain is out of tough with what is going on in this country. He has no vision he truly is just like GWB.
Glad to have you on board!!  Actually, I like the song "Rompe" better than "Gasolina", but that's just a matter of opinion.  McCain / Palin 08.
Um, what?
Wow! Now I will fursure vote for the old white haired man.
Gee, maybe the high school paper will get a chance to ask mccain some serious questions...like how did cindy do three weeks ago at the biker convention in Sturgis...thats the kind of stuff we want to know about
Yankee is most famous for his song "Gasolina," which translates to "gasoline" -- but has nothing to do with offshore drilling or McCain's energy policy mantra "drill here, drill now."
***************************************
Typical, out of touch McCain.  McCain's "drill here, drill now" has nothing to do with the energy crisis.
It will be a sad day if McCain is elected president.
Now the gop can start taking the Latino vote along with gay and lesiban, clinton supporters, independents and if he pick Collin Powell as vp the AA vote as well.

Slam Dunk !
wow...some obscure guy no one has ever hear of endorses mccain!

that should help the grumpy old man win those kids he so desperately tries to keep off his many, many, lawns.
Daddy Yankee's lyrics strike me as very ... well, un-McCain... especially Gasonlina which isn't talking about gas from off-shore drilling, unless you consider seminal fluid gas...

Great endorsement Sen. McCain...  Way to pick your moments....
Idiot!!!
Wow, with endorsements like that, what else could McBush need, mon?
Idiot!!!
"Daddy Yankee." How appropriate.

McCain wants to be Daddy Yankee to the whole world.
Too bad the Republican Party is so anti-immigrant, pretty naive to support McCain for this.

Wonder if he really knows what "Gasolina" refers too.Is this more Traditional Family Values, like the wet-tshirt and pickle-licking at the biker event?


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