The Trouble With Megan McCain

You know what’s wrong with Meghan McCain? It’s not her weight. It’s not her voice. It’s not her looks. She’s a beautiful young girl with TV-friendly poise and natural charm. The trouble with Meghan McCain is that, like her father, she has no fixed ideological principles — conservative, liberal, or otherwise. She seems to have inherited the notion that playing the “maaaaverick” imparts her with moral authority and credibility as a fresh voice for the GOP. I’m all for speaking truth to power. But like her father, Ms. McCain’s maaaaverick-iness appears to be rooted less in any firm set of beliefs than in the need for liberal approbation.

Take her “beef with Ann Coulter.” (Ms. McCain’s not the first or only one on the Right to ever criticize her, by the way.) If Ms. McCain sincerely detests Coulter’s “demeanor” and “extreme” thinking, statements, and behavior because they represent “hate” and alienate young voters, then how is it that the same genteel Ms. McCain can cheer the cretinous, left-wing extremist Russell Brand?

Here’s what she wrote on her Twitter page Friday evening:

Russell Brand is freaking hilarious, just started listening to his podcasts on itunes. Everyone should check it out. 6:05 PM Mar 13th from web
She followed up by linking to his website:

http://www.russellbrand.tv/ to everyone that asked, here is russell brand’s website
Ms. McCain, have you forgotten what Russell Brand said about your dad’s running mate and her family? Have you forgotten what he said about President Bush? Here, let me remind you…from my blog post on September 7, 2008:

Reader M.G. writes that the MTV Awards show was the latest venue for vicious Palin family-bashing:

“I know a few people at Viacom and I tuned in to see the MTV music awards tonight. I was disgusted and appalled when the British host Russell Brand started begging America to vote for Barack Obama. Like his opinion matters. He’s not even a citizen. What’s worse is that he attacked Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter. He made a snide joke that her baby was not a boy or a girl, but a P.R. stunt.”

You can watch Brand’s opening screed here. This cretin’s claim to fame? Dressing up as Osama bin Laden on the day after the September 11 terrorist attacks.



I’ve transcribed some of his Obama endorsement and GOP-bashing, which occurred barely 3-4 minutes into the show:

BRAND: “Now, as a representative of the global community and a visitor from abroad, I don’t want to come across a little bit biased, but could I please ask of you people of America, to PLEASE ELECT BARACK OBAMA. Please! On behalf of the world. (Camera pans to singers Chris Brown and Britney Spears applauding and cheering.) Some people, I think they’re called racists, say that America is not ready for a black president. But I know America to be a forward-thinking country, right. Because, otherwise, you know, would you have let that retarded cowboy fellow be president for eight years?

We were very impressed. It was nice of you to let him have a go. Because in England, George Bush wouldn’t be trusted with a pair of scissors.

I am obliged by broadcasting law to show some balance in this situation, which means, uh, the Republicans might be alright. Sarah Palin. She’s a VILF! A vice president I’d like to…fumble, fondle, I dunno. I do feel a little bit sorry for her daughter, getting pregnant, poor kid. Is it a boy? Is it a girl? It’s a P.R. stunt. Come on. Be honest.

And I feel most sorry for that poor teenaged father. Boy. One minute, he’s just a teenaged lad in Alaska having joyful, unprotected sex. And the next minute: Get to the Republican convention. I think that is the best safe sex message of all time. Use a condom or become Republican! …That boy will spend the rest of his life masturbating while wearing a condom…

…New music, new president, and brand new America. And you people deserve it after eight years of Bush. I promise you, you deserve it…
Does the GOP need a new generation of conservatives who can defend our core values against the constant campus/media/Hollywood/effete European onslaught? Hell, yes.

Does the GOP need rudderless, self-defeating representatives who embrace pop culture demagogues on the Left while castigating the incivility of the “extreme Right?” Hell, no.

In her blog post on Coulter last week, Ms. McCain wondered: “Is she for real or not? Are some of her statements just gimmicks to gain publicity…or does she actually believe the things she says? Et tu, Meghan?

More reminders: Ms. McCain’s favorite comedian went on last fall to trash the Jonas Brothers for vowing to abstain from premarital sex before marriage. He had planned even more disgusting, vicious jokes — some aimed at Ms. McCain’s father and another involving an electric chair gag targeting the Palins:

The British comedian appeared to annoy celebrities and some fans when he made a series of risque political and sexual jokes hosting the 25th anniversary show. But Brand, who called for Americans to vote for Democratic nominee Barack Obama in the presidential elections, claimed censors at the channel had already toned down his routine and vetoed several jokes.

He said: “I had John McCain gags pulled. And they asked me to tone down the gags about Sarah Palin. I wanted to say she was forcing her teenage daughter to have a baby because she is so anti-abortion.

“But also, as a Republican she is pro-execution so she is going to give her the electric chair for being a little slut.

“They weren’t keen on that one.”

Neverthless, he did manage to include a reference to George W Bush as a “retarded cowboy” during the routine.
Last fall, the BBC suspended Ms. McCain’s favorite comedian over prank phone calls he made to British actor Andrew Sachs in which he made a string of lewd comments about the actor’s granddaughter:

Mr Sachs’s granddaughter, 23-year-old Georgina Baillie, said the family was still considering a formal complaint to police – a move that could lead to the presenters facing prosecution for making a nuisance call. She said: “What is funny about humiliating a lovely old man who has never harmed anyone in his life? We’re very close and I can’t tell you how much it hurts to know they were so unkind to such a sweet person. They should at least pay for what they’ve done with their jobs.”

Ross and Brand left a series of obscene messages on the answering machine when they could not reach Mr Sachs, 78, for a pre-arranged phone interview. Each message, aired on October 18 after senior producers authorised the programme for broadcast, contained lewd jibes about how Brand he had slept with Ms Bailie. Further transcripts of the programme have emerged in which Ross and Brand joke about breaking into Mr Sachs’ house and performing a sex act on him by way of apology.
Ms Bailie, a burlesque performer known as Voluptua, confirmed she slept with him three times in late 2006 but said: “It was never going to be a serious relationship but I felt I could trust him as a friend. I feel utterly exposed and betrayed.

“What happened between us was supposed to be private but he is clearly no gentleman. What girl would ever want to have to tell their granddad who she slept with? He hasn’t asked me about it because he is too much of a gentleman – unlike Russell Brand.”

She added: “It was bad enough that they recorded these things on my grand-father’s answer machine but astonishing the BBC saw fit to broadcast it when they could have stopped it.”
What, exactly, does Ms. McCain find “freaking hilarious” about Russell Brand? If not his diatribes against social conservatives and mockery of 9/11, then what? Is it the photo of him urinating in the desert? The videos of him prancing around in his underwear? Or perhaps we’re just too old and too unhip to understand the humor and need to lighten up in order to broaden our base? Is that the takeaway?

How, exactly, does Ms. McCain reconcile her fervent disdain for Coulter with her fevered endorsement of an anti-American vulgarian who hates everything the Republican Party stands for?

I’d freaking like to know.