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Posted on 07/15/2009 1:33:05 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
"Does it sound campy to say I love gay men?” asks Meghan McCain, sipping an iced tea at the nouveau-chic Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle. Campy or not, the lovesick McCain has been ubiquitous this year, sallying forth on late-night TV -- Larry King Live, The Colbert Report, The Rachel Maddow Show -- to scold the Republican establishment for its social conservatism and stump for gay marriage. “If two people fall in love, they should have the option to get married just like I can,” she told Stephen Colbert, pointing out the inherent hypocrisy of a party that believes in keeping government out of people’s private lives -- except when those people are gay men and women.
McCain’s timing was propitious, coming in the midst of a struggle within the GOP for direction and fresh momentum that saw Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, and Sarah Palin arrayed on one side, and, well, who, exactly, on the other? For a while, you might have said John McCain, but he disappointed with his rightward lurch during last year’s presidential campaign. Could his 24-year-old daughter take up that mantle in his stead? It’s telling that her favorite line from her father’s election campaign was also the one that best epitomized his original promise: “I’m not President Bush.” Although she says she has no political aspirations, McCain has an astute understanding of her own generation -- one more inclined to identify with her bright, bushy-tailed enthusiasm than with the GOP’s grumpy old men. “My generation -- we like our celebrities,” she said on Larry King Live. She was referring to Obama, whose superstar qualities have caught the attention of the world, but she might as well have been talking about herself.
Like her father, Meghan McCain isn’t shy -- a fact she’s quick to point out. “I think I’m a lot like my dad,” she says. “We’re the same person.” Most noticeably, both McCains have a preternatural ability to piss off their fellow Republicans, an asset they wear on their sleeves. Within weeks of starting a regular column for The Daily Beast, McCain flexed her newfound muscle by attacking the GOP’s queen of mean, Ann Coulter -- “watching her is sometimes like watching a train wreck,” she wrote -- and dissing fellow GOP Twitterer Karl Rove, whom she branded a “Twitter Creep.” Easy targets perhaps, but it was a smart way to position herself on the opposite side of the aisle. “I’d be flattered to be considered the anti–Ann Coulter, the anti–Rush Limbaugh,” she says.
But it’s her position on gay marriage that has garnered McCain the most attention. In a speech to the Log Cabin Republicans, she said that “old-school Republicans” were “scared shitless” of the future and retreating further and further into an ultraconservative crouch. In late May, a week after the New York State Assembly passed a bill that would legalize gay marriage, she penned an open letter to New York Republicans in the Daily News, which said that GOP support for the bill “will leave a legacy that will make us all proud.”
Not surprisingly, McCain the younger has drawn poisonous quips from the party’s moralizers-in-chief, including conservative columnist Laura Ingraham, who dismissed her as a “plus-sized model” (“Kiss my fat ass,” McCain retorted on an episode of The View), and Rush Limbaugh, who suggested that she follow Arlen Specter’s example and leave the GOP. More surprising has been the scorn of liberal writers such as Judith Warner of The New York Times, who called her Colbert appearance “stupid” and “foolish.” Much of this has to do with McCain’s slightly girlie, conversational speaking style, which lacks the spit and polish of professional pundits and occasionally strays into gauche phrases and pat formulations. Yet for thousands of ordinary viewers, schooled in the language of Facebook and Twitter, that’s what makes her fresh and sympathetic. She has grown up in their world, and when she talks about her love of the Scissor Sisters and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or asks readers of her blog to write in with suggestions for her next tattoo (“So far McCain in gothic letters on the back of my neck is winning my unofficial survey”), she is talking their language. It turns out those old-school Republicans are not only scared shitless of the future; they’re scared shitless of her. Or, as media writer Michael Wolff put it, Meghan McCain “was a mild diversion during the presidential campaign....But empowered, she’s turned into someone who actually wants a seat at the table, apparently unaware of the incongruity and awkwardness of a 24-year-old girl among the guys with their pants pulled up high.”
Some critics have argued that McCain’s support for gay rights amounts to little more than attention-seeking cynicism, that while it’s nice to have the daughter of the former Republican presidential candidate’s vocal support, it would’ve been more helpful if she’d made her views known on the campaign trail. McCain -- a fan of Lucky Cheng’s drag club in New York City where she gets her Lady Bunny fix -- says that during the campaign no reporter bothered to ask for her views on the matter. Had they, she would have told the truth and not worried about further upsetting conservatives already wary of her father’s maverick reputation. “I never would have lied,” she says.
Being free of a presidential campaign’s constraints has liberated McCain to speak her mind, but the true impetus for her current gay rights activism was the passage of Proposition 8 in California. On election night last November, McCain was understandably consumed with the results of the presidential race and, like many, “assumed that Prop 8 wouldn’t pass.” The next morning, however, she woke up in an already sour mood made worse by her BGF (best gay friend) Josh “telling me that on top of everything else, Prop 8 passed.” Like many others, McCain was swept up in a collective sense of grievance, quickly concluding that making the GOP more gay-friendly would be foremost among her priorities. (For the record, Meghan isn’t the only member of the McCain clan to support gay marriage. “My mom was always for gay marriage, but I think me being so vocal about it has made her want to be more vocal about it,” she says. “She texted me: ‘Gay marriage passed in Maine!!’ ”)
But what so recently seemed antithetical to mainstream Republicanism has lately gained support from unlikely supporters, including former vice president Dick Cheney, who recently expressed support for gay marriage, and Theodore Olson, a lawyer who represented George W. Bush during the contested election of 2000 and who is now working to overturn Prop 8. And John McCain’s former campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt, told the Log Cabin Republicans that same-sex marriage was consistent with sound conservative principles. As for her father, McCain says, “He’s 73 and of a different generation. I hope someday he will come around.” But she also credits her own progressive position to her upbringing, recalling a precocious fourth-grade classmate who told her he was gay.
When McCain asked her mother what “gay” meant, she replied “That’s how God made him, and we love everyone.”
Yet even as the balance begins to shift, the old guard is still yapping in the foreground. Shortly before McCain sat for this interview, Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, gave an interview to Christianity Today in which he complained about “queers” and declared, “I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children.” Unprompted, McCain rails against the man her father’s presidential campaign touted as an American everyman and made a showpiece in the weeks before the election. “Joe the Plumber -- you can quote me -- is a dumbass. He should stick to plumbing.”
Given her youth, her lack of political experience, and that she’s the daughter of the Republican politician most reviled by his fellow Republicans, it’s doubtful, at least for the time being, that McCain has the ability to sway conservatives on any issue, never mind gay equality. As they did with her father, many prominent conservatives have called her conservative bona fides into question, pointing out that she only recently registered as a Republican, voted for John Kerry in 2004, and spends more time attacking Republicans than she does Democrats. And despite the battle scars she’s already earned, McCain recognizes that she has yet to win over gays. “A lot of people in the gay community are skeptical of me as a Republican,” she says, mindful of her mission to promote the idea that being Republican and supporting gay marriage are not mutually exclusive.
“Homophobia is the last socially accepted prejudice,” McCain says, repeating it for emphasis. So it’s only natural that she also views the fight for gay equality as “my generation’s civil rights movement.” At a time when California can constitutionally ban gay marriage and the current presidential administration -- having vowed so much -- has yet to fulfill its promises, it’s hard not to be won over by this bubbly optimist. “In general, I don’t get a good response from the conservative movement,” she admits, unfazed. “But there are a lot of people who have said, ‘I’m Republican and I’m pro–gay marriage. Thank you for showing that you don’t have to be anti–gay marriage to be a Republican.’”
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Like father, like ditz!
Why is she still talking?
Shows you how effective McLame is. He can’t shut his porky spawn up.
Meghan who?
-
She and Levi Johnston would make a cute couple.
My guess is that even John McCain is embarrassed by her.
What’s eith showing up in Out Mag??? I think it won’t be long before Meghan reveals what this far left love affair is really all about......
Isnt she the fat one who sings for the Dixie Twits?
Well, let's have the North Vietnamese beat her for five years then.
Does Moon Unit earn her own keep? Has she ever held down a job?
The media loves this useful-idiot. And while she’s all about keeping the government out of private lives, that’s EXACTLY what she’s advocating. Matter of factly, I haven’t heard one social conservative call for the banning of gay marriages or gay sex. What I have heard is the demand that government not recognize these abodminable excuses for marriage.
What McCain wants is clearly for the government to become intertwined in private lives: to have authority over disputes should divorce occur, to have the right to have courts distribute assets or demand payments, to redistribute property, to legally bind parties.
McCain’s problem is that she’s a flying dingbat with a loud mouth and a father who gave her the forum to speak. She’s clueless to all of this. Just another effete doofus who doesn’t know when to keep her pair of brain cells from hopping around like jumping beans.
Joe the Plumber is the “old Guard”?
John McCain had a “rightward” lurch during the campaign?
What freaking dimension are they from?
Whuh HUH? SCARED of Meghan McCain? The only think I’m scared of is her finishing one too many vodka gimlets and ending up with Mike Moore’s love child.
Not by me.
How about adults on one side and the immature, chunky, sniveling brats for RINO children on the other? (Nothing against those who are chunky, I just don't like this particular piece of chunk).
Actually, dear, it sound pretty normal when you can't get a normal man to touch you with a 10 foot pole.
If this gal worked the rest of her body as much as she does her lips, she’d be a hottie.
Time to stop yacking to get on TMZ and do something with your life sweetie.
What a silly b*** — why won’t she just shut up?
Why would any normal man want to touch a chunkier version of John McCain dressed in drag?
They think and talk about it 24/7.
TMI pervs, shut up!
She is as relevant as Paris Hilton.
McCain sucks, McCain’s spawn sucks X2.
Who you callin’ dumba$$, fata$$?
Of course she loves homosexual men they are the only ones who will go out with her.
Meagan, you need to shut up.
To quote Roseanne...God made gays so fat chicks would have someone to dance with!
Why is anyone still listening?
Fortunately, she is mostly preaching to the leftist choir. Her father instantly became a non-entity when he lost the presidential race to The One. Meghan is simply used as filler on TV shows and magazines. Her anti-conservative blather gives the America-haters a quick thrill and is then quickly forgotten.
That this nobody trying desperately to capitalize on her father's fading fame thinks she is a worthy adversary to Ann Coulter is hilarious and clearly demonstrates this young woman's descent into pure delusion.
Meghan McCain is a media darling for the same reason Levi Johnston is. She'll bash Republicans. Your question points out a trend I noticed first on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect show. I watched about half an episode of it. People like Meghan McCain, who as far as I can tell, have never held down a job or paid their own rent or done anything other than live life as an extended vacation off of their parent's bank account, have their opinions listened to as if they had something to contribute to the conversation.
Everything's just a viewpoint, anymore. Reality doesn't matter.
When I think fame prior to the dawn of radio/film/television and the internet, the famous people were Madame Curie, George Washington Carver, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, etc. They were people with real accomplishments.
Today, more people can name the stars of the Harry Potter movies than can name Supreme Court Justices. Can most people name even one working scientist today?
That's what we need leading the conservative movement, Mary Kate and Ashley's stupid sister.
“He should stick to plumbing.”
1. And what would she stick to?
2. It is much better to have a good plumber than a bad would-be political pundit.
I predict that before the end of the year that Ms. McCain will announce that she is joining the Democrat party. After all, it’s where all the cool kids are. s/
Have another doughnut, Megan.
My diagnosis of Ms. McCain:
Diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain.
She needs to shut up and sing:
Meghan McCain sings to the GOP: “It’s my Party”
“It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to!
Defy who I want to!
Eat pie—one piece won’t do!
You would whine too-If you hadn’t a clue.
Daddy was running for President
Against this way-cool black guy
Now Obama’s a White House resident
And I just whimper and sigh!
Sarah Palin was Daddy’s running mate,
Tho’ I thought she was way too right-wing
Her politics are just what I hate
Now all that I can do is sing….
It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to!
Defy who I want to!
Eat pie—one piece won’t do!
You would whine too-If you hadn’t a clue.
The GOP has to grow and evolve,
And try and keep up with the trends.
I’d love to go on about problems I’ll solve-
—But Mommy just bought me a Benz!
I have strong opinions on how things should be
Even though my resume’s slight
Hell, if Daddy had not been a VIP,
I’d be workin’ at Target tonight!
It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to!
Defy who I want to!
Eat pie—one piece won’t do!
You would whine too-If you hadn’t a clue.
The GOP needs me to teach it some things-
I really have so much to say
But right now, I’m headed to Burger King
I’ve been craving a Whopper all day!
It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to!
Defy who I want to!
Eat pie—one piece won’t do!
You would whine too-If you hadn’t a clue”.
“Does it sound campy to say I love gay men?” asks Meghan McCain, sipping an iced tea at
Actually it sounds like you are an idiot.
“If two people fall in love, they should have the option to get married just like I can,” she told
Really?
How about a 48 year old and a 14 year old?
How about brother and a sister?
Or how about mom and son?
If marriage is not between 2 people of opposite sex then why stop at 2 people?
How about 2 men and a women or 2 women and a man
I mean if they are in love then why not?
The reality of the situation is that
Marriage has THE definition,
or NO definition.
I believe that the underlying goal is the latter.
This girl gives a bad name to airheads.
My generation — we like our celebrities,” she said on Larry King Live. She was referring to Obama
And how is having a “celebratard” as President working out for America so far?
Sky rocketing debt and sky rocketing unemployment.
Increasing islamic terrorism around the globe.
Thanks but no thanks to the clebratards......
Meg please cross over to the dark side and leave us conservatives alone. Rinos make our stomach turn.
Oh, he was talking about plumbing, Mehgie. Plumbers know the difference between male and female.
Whenever the name of Megan McCain is mentioned, it should be done with her peer group of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Nicole Richie.
Solely to add context to Miss McCain’s world view.
A surgeon went to check on his blonde patient, a Ms McCain, after an operation.
She was awake, so he examined her.
“You’ll be fine,” he said.
She asked, “How long will it be before I am able to have a normal sex life again doctor?”
The surgeon seemed to pause, which alarmed the girl.
“What’s the matter Doctor? I will be all right, won’t I?”
He replied,
“Yes, you’ll be fine.
It’s just that no one has ever asked me that after having their tonsils out.”
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