Holy Crap, Meghan McCain Really is an Idiot

No, she really is.

If you heard about her appearance on Bill Maher’s show two weeks ago, where Paul Begala schooled her in how not to be an idiot, well, then, you know how dumb she can be. And now, she’s gone one step further.

In her latest column on The Daily Beast, Mc Cain insists that we “forgive” South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford for his cheating/disappearing act, saying, “Was Governor Sanford wrong to have an affair? As a husband, of course he was. But should we burn him at the stake and make him leave office? I don’t believe so. Because sex and politics are two very different things, even if sometimes they seem hopelessly entwined.”

OK, look. I know what Meghan is trying to do here. The Republican party is in such a shambles that she is doing whatever she can to make it become more inclusive, less judgmental, and a part of  this century. I admire that..I think it is necessary for us to have two vibrant, competing parties. I think that the Republicans are so far to the right that they’ve pulled the Democrats over to the right with them. If she can do anything to change this, then I will help her, gladly.

However.

Meghan, you need to understand the full force of the hypocrisy of what Sanford did, plus what his job is as Governor of a state of four million plus people.

Sanford was one of the ones insisting that Clinton be kicked out because of the affair with Monica Lewinsky. So, really, he needs to live and die by the rules he sets. I agree with McCain that politicians’ sex lives are really none of our business, but Sanford’s sex life became our business once he insisted that Clinton’s was too.

Secondly, and much more importantly, he abandoned his job. I can think of few, if any, jobs where one can just not show up for few days and not be fired. There is a reason Governors live in residences provided by their states and get a security detail. It’s because their jobs are important.  They require someone to be available 24/7.  McCain is the daughter of a serious man who had a serious job, and should know this. However, growing up as she has with substantial privilege, she has most likely never had to face this reality herself as a grownup holding down a job.  Hell, the last time she even updated her much-touted blog, McCain Blogette, was in May.

Finally Meghan, if you want to write a well thought-out column talking about Mark Sanford, look at this one. Maureen Dowd is not my favorite person but she knows how to think. Start thinking.  Secondly, going back to last week, if you want to be taken seriously while on national TV,  look at your fellow Real Time panelist Katty Kay, another blonde, but one who has no problem being informed–I never noticed her saying that she was “just a blonde”.   Start reading. And if you want to improve your overall performance on TV, look at, well, just about everyone else you ever see on TV.  They prepare for their appearances and you need to as well. Start preparing. You can do it.

Unless you really are an idiot.

Paul Begala Made Meghan McCain Cry

So if you didn’t see last night’s Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, you missed a doozy of a slapdown. Joining Bill on his panel last night were Democratic strategist/pundit/former Clintonite Paul Begala, BBC Correspondent Katty Kay, and LA Times Columnist Joel Stein. Bill then brings out his very special guest, Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain, who admits to being very nervous. Ok, so far so good.

Now, if you’ve been following anything at all lately, Meghan Mc Cain is one of the many Repubicans trying to become the Next Big Thing as the party is lacking a message and real leadership right now. She recently had a story in The Daily Beast about why David Letterman had a sexist double standard, and when asked about it by Maher (who corrected her on the fact that it was clearly about Bristol, who is an active media particpant, and not 14 year old Willlow), she said that Republicans were the butt of comedians’ jokes way more than Democrats were, and part of her proof was Bristol Palin’s story is “over” so the only reason Letterman made fun was to pick on Republicans .

Which, thankfully enough, the panel immediately and vehemently disagreed with. Maher pointed out that comedians are still making hay out of the Clinton/Lewinsky affair a good 10 years after the fact. McCain continued to dig herself deeper, replying to Begala’s remark that Reagan blamed everythign on Carter with “Well I wasn’t even born then” and giving a look that said “I’m just a cute young blonde, aren’t I funny?”. So Begala moves in for the kill: “Well I wasn’t born during the French Revolution but I know about that!”.

As the conversation continues, the camera pans over to McCain from time to time, who looks close to tears. She then, rather stupidly, engages Katty Kay in the conversation about Laura Ling and Euna Lee, possibly thinking that maybe as fellow blonde Kay will extend professional courtesy. She loses there as well.
Maher started to do his condescending faux-comforting thing with her, because she was so clearly overmatched, and the discussion part of the show mercifully ended.

You know, earlier in the discussion McCain had said that many Republicans had asked her not to come on the show, and having seen her inarticulate and graceless performance, they were right. I know she wants to represent a different voice of the Republican party, one that is less judgmental, less religious and more inclusive, and I think those are all good things, but she needs to work on her vocabulary and her nerves if she hopes to succeed.

Here’s a clip from the show:Begala PWNed Meghan McCain