Listening to Meghan McCain
Is she embarrassing Republicans, or pointing the way?
“I feel sorry for Meghan McCain,” said Judith Warner in The New York Times. The daughter of Sen. John McCain should be allowed to quietly grow up as other “smart, ambitious, and untested young people” do—by going to grad school or getting a job. Instead, she’s got a Daily Beast column, a book contract, and TV appearances, all of which help her to “embarrass herself on the national stage.” (watch Meghan McCain on The Colbert Report)
You know something is wrong when even a liberal like Judith Warner feels bad that a conservative like Meghan McCain is “making a fool of herself,” said Rod Dreher in BeliefNet. What the young McCain doesn’t grasp is that “she's not getting on TV because people think she's genuinely got anything interesting or important to say.” She’s just “a useful idiot for the media left.”
Meghan McCain’s “brash” blog posts and tweets calling herself “pro-sex” make her an easy target, said Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle, but Republicans should listen to what she has to say. She “may be at the forefront of a new GOP breed”—young conservatives who are “interested in fiscal responsibility and less government involvement in people's lives, while supporting environmentalism and civic engagement.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How community-based tourism can reshape travel
IN And five tips for finding a responsible community travel company
By Henry Haselock Published
-
Ed Martin: The US attorney taking on Trump's enemies
In the Spotlight He advocated for Jan. 6 defendants. Now Martin leads D.C. prosecutions.
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Hot to get older: extreme heat can make people age faster
Under the radar New research shows warming temperatures can affect biological age
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published