Politico weighs in with the latest story about California Rep. Mike Honda and has karaoke singing ways.
Honda, or so the story goes, has used karaoke to gain comfort with public speaking.
A 2002 profile by the Washington Post called him, "The Karaoke Congressman."
The Post joined Honda for one karaoke session in 2002:
He becomes patently less nervous after having three glasses of Sapporo beer in 25 minutes. The karaoke starts. Two Honda staffers, Eric Werwa and Daniel Shin, sing the "Gilligan's Island" theme song to the visible amusement of everyone, especially themselves. Honda is doing the one-armed "I love you, man" hug with Bruce Klein, a lobbyist for Hewlett-Packard who has come to watch Honda perform. Klein predicts that karaoke will soon become a potent power activity in Washington.
"It is a great leveler," Honda agrees. "Everyone makes themselves vulnerable."
Ok, so karaoke may not have caught fire in the nation's Capitol, but Honda is still going strong, drink in hand.
Politico.com has the story from Honda's recent 67th birthday at a D.C. karaoke bar:
The evening was a celebration of his 67th birthday, and in addition to his current employees, a considerable contingent of former staffers filtered in throughout the night. Each received a bear hug from Honda.
"Take a sip," Honda said to a reporter, holding out a glass of what looked like day-old, warm goat's milk.
"It's a diuretic and a laxative," Honda said with boyish delight after taking the glass back. (The concoction turned out to be unfiltered sake.)
As for Honda's favorite songs, it is pretty clear that the Spanish love ballad "En Mi Viejo San Juan" is atop the list.
According to both news stories, he belted out the same tune -- en Espanol -- in both 2002 and 2008.
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