Adventures of the Coconut Caucus

Well in all the madness of Obama’s boring white guy VP nomination, let us not forget what our fearless leaders in our many MANY useful Latino organizations are doing to pursue the interests of our community! The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, an organization focused on Latino youth types like America Ferrera or J-Lo playing a TV maid is choosing the ONLY Latino left in the race to take over the White House to speak at a gala where media types sit at the nosebleed section (there’s no such thing as a free gala dinner).

Sen. John McCain To Address CHCI Awards Gala

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) celebrates 31 years of serving Latino youth with its 31st Annual Awards Gala on Wednesday, September 10, 2008. This year’s theme, The Power to Make the Difference, commemorates the vast contributions Hispanic Americans have made to this country and celebrates the historic opportunity it has to impact the future of the United States.

Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona will address the crowd of more than 2,300, including as many as 40 Members of Congress in attendance.

This year’s Chairman’s Award, selected by CHCI Chairman Joe Baca (CA-43), will be presented to three pioneering Members of Congress, Reps. Solomon P. Ortiz (TX-27), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18), and Jose E. Serrano (NY-16).

The event will be emceed by Tony Plana, star of ABC’s hit comedy “Ugly Betty,” with gala entertainment provided by Grammy award-winning artists Los Lonely Boys.

In the past we have, with good reason, mocked the internets usage of the coconut caucus et al, so imagine my surprise when I accidentally stumbled upon their new redesigned website which despite being soooo 20th Century is a vast improvement on their Page Not Found website.

Anyway, I was bored enough to wander to the “En Español” section and realized that while in English Joe Baca is merely the chair of the caucus, in Spanish he is promoted to “president” with TWO vp’s.

Check out what Grace Napolitano is in Spanish…

He may be presidente, but Baca is still only three feet tall…

The website has many more amusing features, but I am busy watching Obama and McCain pander to us…

The coconuts have been offended lately because Obama hasn´t personally attended the quinceañeras of their daughters or called them to wish them a happy Cinco de Mayo.

They are especially almost pissed off because after more than a year of them campaigning fiercely for Hillary and criticizing Obama and telling Latinos not to vote for him, they weren´t the first on his list of friends and family to call.

But they made enough noise, and since Obama does need Hispanics to vote for him, they all met together at the DNC at a closed door non-binding meeting at 5 PM on Tuesday, and made sure they didn´t tell ANYONE in the Hispanic Media, and picked such a convenient time to meet waaaay past any news deadline, EVEN for the West Coast.

So here is the only thing you need to know about this meeting in which the Latina members of Congress were VERY ABSENT….

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In case you were wondering, Joe Baca is still 3 feet tall

New shocking video, Baca is even shorter than Luis Gutiérrez!!!!!!!

More photos….

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Yes mi gente, it is time again for a news sancocho.

There is waaaaay too much going on in Puerto Rico with the non-binding primaries that who has time to cover it all for a blog that pays squat…

So here we go with the bullet point version….

• Michelle Obama is waaaay taller than Joe Baca, and everybody else on the island.
• Since everybody and their cousin is flying to campaign in PR, this is how you do a proper landing.
• Hillary Clinton dresses for local island events
• AP  turns the president of the P.R. Senate, Kenneth McClintock, into a mere translator:

Here is the caption

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., listens to a translator as former Puerto Rican Gov. Carlos Romero Barcelo speaks during a campaign rally in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico Saturday, May 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)