Tuesday, March 17, 2009

i hate myself for liking meghan mccain

It's not often that I admire a Republican for...well...anything really. So, I'm actually quite shocked to find myself liking Meghan McCain more and more.

I love a good political debate with the other side. However, I can't get into a good debate with most of the Republicans I know (note that I mention the ones I know; I'm aware that not all Republicans are like this) because they simply repeat the party talking points or they repeat often-misleading garbage that comes out of the pundits' mouths or they repeat whatever they hear on Faux News (you know, that bastion of honesty and balance on cable TV). I want to debate a Republican that can think for him/herself and believes in what he/she says with passion. I don't want to hear that Obama sucks because he shouldn't even be president due to the fact that he wasn't born here (I'm curious. Is Faux still pushing that BS? If not, why am I still hearing this crap?)

So then I start reading Meghan's postings on the Daily Beast (I read her personal blog once and found that all of the comments in the one post I read were complimentary to Meghan and her dad, which led me to believe that comments were moderated and only the ones that agree with Meghan were allowed on the blog). Holy crap, she sure is smart and articulate. At once, I think Dude, I would love to pick her brain. After reading more of her stuff, I realize that I can't debate Meghan because I already agree with most of what she says.

Which is strange for me. I mean, how often do I find myself agreeing with a Republican?

Personally, I think Meghan is more of an Independent than she realizes. I get that she wanted to support her father in the campaign, but she supports stem cell research and gay marriage. She's most certainly a little left on the social side. To be honest, I don't know about her stance on fiscal issues. Yeah, she obviously supports the military, but I don't think the GOP has a monopoly on this.

Regardless of her true political affiliations, she has made some great points as far as what the GOP needs to do to stay relevant. Look, I get that they are the party without a unifying message or leader (ummm...Rush is anything but unifying) at the moment. But honestly, now is the time for a makeover.

Meghan wrote a thoughtful piece on how the GOP needs to jump on the internet bandwagon. I mean, no sh*t. This is how you reach young people with your message. The Obama campaign used and abused the internet. His message was everywhere. The campaign even had its own personal 'myspace' type of thing, where volunteers could connect with other volunteers to organize grassroots efforts. As a frequent user, I found it awesome to connect with people who believe what I believe in and had the passion to act on behalf of those beliefs.

Recently Meghan wrote the now controversial piece on how Ann Coulter sucks (no, that's not the title, but the gist of the piece). She writes about how dangerous it is that Ann Coulter is the face of the GOP (personally, I think Rush is more detrimental). Because of her extreme views and the GOP-ers that sing her praises, she is alienating potential Republicans. With Ann, it is such an 'us vs. them' mentality at a time when the GOP needs to be more inclusive.

So here is Meghan, a young woman who can eloquently describe the issues within her own party and what must be done to gain prominence once again. And what does the GOP do? Well, conservative blow hard Laura Ingraham calls her fat. Rather than get into a thoughtful debate with Meghan, she labels her as a hater whose fat (and Laura's not the only one; go to her Daily Beast postings and read the comments about how Meghan is stupid and fat). Really? That is the extent of intelligent discourse in the GOP these days? See?  It's an 'us vs. them' mentality (and sexist too, seeing as that intelligent women are being told to shut up).

And therein lies the problem. And as a proud Dem, I'm pretty happy to see the infighting in the GOP. But I can definitely appreciate what Meghan is trying to do.

Lucky for us libs, the GOP isn't listening.

6 comments:

Capitol Hill 20210 said...

I love Meghan McCain -- I was so pissed off that the stupid bitch called her fat. Meghan is gorgeous and intelligent.

Dude i love you for writing this post. You will find most of my views are the same as Meghans. ahem lol.

Generation Next said...

I haven't read her blog much or followed the news about her but I remember thinking during the campaign that it was cool she had a blog and seemed to be writing about issues she cared about. Thanks for bringing this up. BTW, I am dating a Republican who can argue intelligently. (shh, don't tell, I'm having cognitive dissonance about this myself). We try not to talk about the issues that make us want to hurl things at each other (religion, abortion). I think he's in denial about how Repub he is as well (which is the problem with most young, educated people I think--the right wing just isn't compatible with their paradigm).

Anyway, I hate how "fat" is an acceptable criticism of women in the news. Just another sexist double standard. If we started counting how many fat, ugly men were in politics, we'd run out of numbers.

Juliet said...

A woman who's size 8 is fat? Laura Ingraham can kiss my fabulous right-leaning ghetto booty.

Anyway, for some reason Meghan McCain didn't make it onto my radar before now. So thank you, thank you, thank you for blogging about her. I hope she and others like her replace Coulter, Ingraham, and other women currently dominating the conservative punditry scene.

an orange county girl said...

zipcode: meghan is really beautiful. i think laura is just hating.

gen next: ha! nothing wrong with dating a Repub. maybe you can convince him to join the blue side! :)

i think 'fat' is a cop out. rather than agree or disagree with meghan's points, it's much easier to dismiss someone who is increasingly becoming relevant by putting her down.

if you want to talk about fat in the GOP, i think the first person to criticize is rush.

zipcode: that's what happens in a patriarchal society. the men are the smart ones who are to be admired regardless of appearance. and women are supposed to sit there and look pretty. if you really pay attention, there is misogyny in the media ALL THE TIME.

juliet: seriously, when did a size 8 become fat?

i think it would be awesome if meghan replaced coulter (i think ingraham is on her way out and calling meghan 'fat' is her way of staying relevant). coulter is a plague on democracy. she needs to go.

meghan is an open-minded GOP-er who cares about the party. if she became a prominent pundit, she would be like a breath of fresh air.

Zandria said...

I agree, OC. I like when people have good reasons for thinking the way they do, and I like that Meghan has her own ideas and can identify with both parties.

Anonymous said...

I'm just now catching up on news and blogs and came across this and was amazed that a grown woman thinks it's acceptable to dismiss another woman's views because she's "fat." I expect such things out of five year olds, not adults. And 8? Fat? Bullshit.