Meghan McCain

Vorlage:Infobox Person Meghan Marguerite McCain (born October 23, 1984) is an American columnist, blogger, and the daughter of U.S. Senator John McCain and Cindy Hensley McCain. McCain began to receive media attention in 2007 for her blog, McCain Blogette, on which she documented life on the campaign trail and mused about fashion, music, and pop culture. In January 2009, she became a contributing author with The Daily Beast.

Early life

Meghan McCain at the 1992 christening of USS John S. McCain, second from right, with her father John, grandmother Roberta, brother Jack, and mother Cindy

Meghan is the oldest of the four children of John and Cindy Hensley McCain. She has been a public figure for most of her life, appearing at the 1996 Republican National Convention.

She was raised in Phoenix, Arizona and attended Phoenix Country Day School and Xavier College Preparatory, an all-girl Catholic high school. She attended Columbia University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in art history. McCain originally planned to become a music journalist, and interned at Newsweek and Saturday Night Live.

Political positions

In general, McCain says that "I am a woman who despises labels and boxes and stereotypes." McCain has also described herself as a Republican who is "liberal on social issues". She registered as an Independent when she was 18 years old and she voted for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. She agrees with her father's positions on global warming and stem-cell research. At first she had doubts about the 2003 invasion of Iraq but subsequently supported her father's position regarding it. She also supports gay marriage and has stated she is pro-life.

She has commented that the cause of the gay community for equality is "one of the ones closest to my heart". As such, she spoke at the Log Cabin Republicans convention in April 2009. There she encapsulated her cultural and political perspectives with the declaration: "I am concerned about the environment. I love to wear black. I think government is best when it stays out of people's lives and business as much as possible. I love punk rock. I believe in a strong national defense. I have a tattoo. I believe government should always be efficient and accountable. I have lots of gay friends. And yes, I am a Republican." In June 2009, McCain posed for the NO H8 Campaign, a celebrity photo project that protests California's Proposition 8 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

In terms of economic policy, she has remarked on The Rachel Maddow Show that "I didn’t even take econ in college. I don’t completely understand it so I’d hate to make a comment one way or the other. That’s – truly of all the things – I keep reading and I just don’t understand it."

2008 presidential election

Meghan McCain during her father's presidential campaign, September 2008

On June 12, 2008, McCain wrote on her blog that she had changed her party registration to Republican. She said she did so "as a symbol of my commitment to my dad and to represent the faith I have in his ability to be an effective leader for our country and to grow and strengthen the Republican party when he is elected President of the United States."

In 2008, she published a book titled My Dad, John McCain and has stated that she hopes to write a "satirical account" of her experiences on the campaign trail. In an interview on Larry King Live that took place on September 15, 2008, McCain stated that she has been too busy to have a romantic relationship while on her father's campaign trail. In an interview with a blogger in January 2009, McCain was asked about her father's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, to which she replied "Sarah Palin is the only part of the campaign that I won't comment on publicly."

Subsequent career

McCain is currently a blogger, and began writing for The Daily Beast in January 2009.

In March 2009, McCain wrote an article for The Daily Beast titled My Beef With Ann Coulter. In this article, she questioned Republican support for journalist Ann Coulter. While Coulter did not respond, conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham challenged McCain's article by comparing her to a "Valley Girl." Ingraham also mocked McCain, stating, "Ok, I was really hoping that I was going to get that role in The Real World, but then I realized that, well, they don’t like plus-sized models." McCain responded to Ingraham in a second article for The Daily Beast titled, Quit Talking About My Weight, Laura Ingraham stating, "Instead of intellectually debating our ideological differences about the future of the Republican Party, Ingraham resorted to making fun of my age and weight, in the fashion of the mean girls in high school." McCain also stated on The View that she thought the change in discourse towards her body was "terrible" and further argued: "When Tyra Banks went on her show in a bathing suit and said 'kiss my fat ass,' that's what I feel like. Kiss my fat ass!" Ingraham responded by calling McCain a "useful idiot." During a later interview on Larry King Live, McCain said that as far as she is concerned, "with what's going on with Laura Ingraham, on my end, it's over." She also told King that Coulter never responded to her article, which she stated, "is fine with me. ... All I wanted to do is show women that you don't have to be Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham to have a place in the Republican Party. ... Supriya Jindal is a good role model, but a lot of people hadn't heard of her."

In April 2009, she inked a six-figure book deal with Hyperion. Some 18,000 people were following her on Twitter. She described her aims thusly: “All I am trying to be is a young, cool Republican woman for other Republican women.” The Politico stated that while John McCain did not emerge from the 2008 election victorious, "his Bud Light-drinking, talk-show-appearing, insouciantly Twittering 24-year-old daughter" did. Speaking at the 2009 Log Cabin Republican Convention, McCain said there was "a war brewing in the Republican Party" between the past and the future, and that "Most of the old school Republicans are scared shitless of that future." She followed that by saying her enjoyment of Twitter was diminished by the presence of top Republican strategist Karl Rove, saying "I can't shake the fact that Karl Rove is following me — it can be creepy" and "We need to take Twitter back from the creepy people."

Statements such as these led news reports and commentators including Rachel Maddow and Kathleen Parker to conclude that McCain had the same 'maverick gene' as her father. Indeed, following the late April 2009 switch by Senator Arlen Specter from the Republican Party to the Democratic, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh suggested that many Republicans wished both John McCain and Meghan McCain would leave too. Meghan McCain's tweet in response was, "RED TIL I'M DEAD BABY!!! I love the republican party enough to give it constructive criticism, I love my party and sure as hell not leavin!" On a May 2009 episode of the Colbert Report, she stated her support for sex education and criticized Bristol Palin's sexual abstinence campaign, saying it was "not realistic for this generation" and hinting that she herself may not be a virgin. McCain also stated her own desires for the Republican Party: "It can be a party for a 24 year-old pro-sex woman. It can be." After John McCain campaign fixture Joe the Plumber made some anti-gay remarks in mid-2009, Meghan McCain took aim at him, saying “Joe the Plumber — you can quote me — is a dumbass. He should stick to plumbing.” In September 2009, McCain had a repeat stint as guest co-host of The View.

Bibliography

• McCain, Meghan (2008), My Dad, John McCain, Aladdin Paperbacks. ISBN 1-41697-528-4

External links

• McCain Blogette
• Vorlage:Twitter
• Vorlage:YouTube user
• Meghan McCain's articles for The Daily Beast