If the world inverts, Meghan McCain will reshape the Republican Party and lead it back to sanity. I'm in no danger of swinging Republican, but I do appreciate honest discourse, courage, and a worthy opponent.
She's pro-choice ("pro sex," even), against religion permeating public life (abstinence-only sex education anyone?), interested in civil rights. Meghan McCain has famously refused to discuss Sarah Palin (say no more), and she has variously
dismissed Karl Rove as as a "Twitter creep," Ann Coulter as a "train
wreck," and has been unshy about her distaste for Joe the Plumber:
Shortly before McCain sat for this interview, Samuel
Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, gave an interview to Christianity Today
in which he complained about “queers” and declared, “I wouldn’t have
them anywhere near my children.” Unprompted, McCain rails against the
man her father’s presidential campaign touted as an American everyman
and made a showpiece in the weeks before the election. “Joe the Plumber — you can quote me — is a dumbass."
...
Although she says she has no political aspirations, McCain has an
astute understanding of her own generation — one more inclined to
identify with her bright, bushy-tailed enthusiasm than with the GOP’s
grumpy old men.
That was from Out Magazine, in which she vociferously supports gay rights and marriage equality. So is this:
Given her youth, her lack of political experience, and that she’s the
daughter of the Republican politician most reviled by his fellow
Republicans, it’s doubtful, at least for the time being, that McCain
has the ability to sway conservatives on any issue, never mind gay
equality. As they did with her father, many prominent conservatives
have called her conservative bona fides into question, pointing out
that she only recently registered as a Republican, voted for John Kerry
in 2004, and spends more time attacking Republicans than she does
Democrats. And despite the battle scars she’s already earned, McCain
recognizes that she has yet to win over gays. “A lot of people in the
gay community are skeptical of me as a Republican,” she says, mindful
of her mission to promote the idea that being Republican and supporting
gay marriage are not mutually exclusive.
“Homophobia is the last
socially accepted prejudice,” McCain says, repeating it for emphasis.
So it’s only natural that she also views the fight for gay equality as
“my generation’s civil rights movement.” At a time when California can
constitutionally ban gay marriage and the current presidential
administration — having vowed so much — has yet to fulfill its
promises, it’s hard not to be won over by this bubbly optimist. “In
general, I don’t get a good response from the conservative movement,”
she admits, unfazed. “But there are a lot of people who have said, ‘I’m
Republican and I’m pro–gay marriage. Thank you for showing that you
don’t have to be anti–gay marriage to be a Republican.’ ”
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