Ricky Martin Livin' la Vida Hillary Clinton
Already the favorite in Puerto Rico's Democratic presidential primary on Sunday, Hillary Clinton today announced the endorsement of singer Ricky Martin -- one of the island's most famed native sons.
In a statement released by Clinton's campaign, Martin said: "These elections will have historic repercussions both in the United States and the world. Senator Clinton has always been consistent in her commitment with the needs of the Latino community. Whether fighting for better education, universal health care and social well-being, as First Lady and Senator from New York -- representing millions of Latinos -- she has always fought for what is most important for our families."
Martin, best known for his huge 1999 hit "Livin' la Vida Loca," has been in the political spotlight before. Headlining a pre-inaugural celebration for George W. Bush in Washington in January 2001, Martin was joined on stage by the soon-to-be-president, with each briefly showing off their dance steps (an image caught in a widely disseminated photograph).
Martin broke with Bush over the Iraq war, though, and made his displeasure widely known during a concert in Puerto Rico last year. During a rendition of his song "Asignatura Pendiente," the five-time Grammy winner thrust ...
...his middle finger into the air when he belted out the tune's lyric, "a photo with Bush."
According to news reports at the time, the gesture was met with cheers from his audience at a stadium in San Juan.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Associated Press
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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Wow, the photo of Martin and Bush clearly shows what the true meaning of the term "has-been."
Why would Ricky Martin have any opinion about our military involvement in Iraq. He doesn't agree with the "don't ask don't tell policy", nor would he have the "huevos" to put on a real man's uniform to die for his fellow U.S. Citizens!
Keep wigglin' your hips Ricky. We know know what kind of man you are.
Posted by: robinia | May 29, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Ricky Martin vendido!! he was bought by the Clintons. Hillary and him are planning a duo with the hope to get some campaign funding...but he asked for 60% of the sold.
Posted by: Adriano | May 29, 2008 at 01:22 PM
And the vitriolic comments from Barack Hussain's supporters continues. Barack will never win, despite all the money from the oil men, good people cant be bought.
Posted by: Liv Gonzales | May 30, 2008 at 09:14 PM
Liv Gonzalez:
why am I not surprised that you are a female and a Hillary supporter??
Two words:
DING.
DONG.
Posted by: Jim | May 30, 2008 at 09:36 PM
Ricky who?
Posted by: Native Angeleno | May 30, 2008 at 11:08 PM
No matter what you think, Ricky is still much most famous than most of us.
And what he said about working for the Hispanics is totally true regarding what the Clintons have done (so is what the Clintons have done for the other racial minorities), you certainly can't say the same thing about either McCain or Obama.
Posted by: didi | May 31, 2008 at 02:29 AM
Even hanging with Bush before the Iraq war shows his poor taste!
On another note, look at our country's poor taste. People I talk to only know 3 candidates running for president. Shows the medias poor ability to include all the candidates. And you wonder why these other candidates have no support, hell I couldn't name all of the candidates running for President by just reading or watching main stream media like 90% of our country does. Charles Baldwin - Bob Barr - Ralph Nader - Ron Paul. I wonder who would win if every candidate must be warded the same amount of airtime.
Read a book Ricky!
Posted by: B | May 31, 2008 at 08:05 AM
The tardiness of this, uh, endorsement clearly reflects that Martin was purchased by the ridiculously desperate politico boogeymen Clintons. He and over-the-HILLary probably planned it last night over bright drinks with large umbrellas. Ricky only cares about glandular matters anyway and NOT America's true issues.
Posted by: Sonny K | May 31, 2008 at 08:14 AM