Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:29:00 +0000 – By Andrea TantarosRepublican Political Commentator/FOXNews.com Contributor
Looks like a life devoid of romance has taken a toll on Meghan McCain. Last week she was complaining she couldn't get a date. This week, in a new blog post for The Daily Beast, McCain calls President Obama "the hippest politician around" and blasts conservative author Ann Coulter for helping to "perpetuate negative stereotypes" about Republican women. "I straight up don't understand this woman or her popularity," says McCain. "I find her offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time."
Remind me again what Meghan McCain has done (besides being born to her finger-in-the- wind, fair weather Republican father)? Insulting and confusing are words typically used to describe John McCain's most recent pander to the right for the presidency, not Coulter's conservative composition.
"Maybe her popularity stems from the fact that watching her is sometimes like watching a train wreck," McCain says.
When most Republicans think about her dad voting against the Bush tax cuts, pushing amnesty for illegal immigrants, enacting McCain-Feingold, getting behind cap-and-trade, visions of train wrecks dance in our heads. In fact, the last two years of her father's presidential campaign was one massive train wreck that enabled our country to elect the "hippest politician around."
Hip. Right. Just ask the markets how hip he is.
McCain concedes that Coulter seems to be followed by a "cult that cannot be denied," and was a popular headliner at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference, but adds that "when your competition is a teenager who has a dream about the Republican Party and Stephen Baldwin, it's not really saying that much."
Don't get me started on her father's competition for the Republican presidential nomination. Those living in glass "Straight Talk Express" busses...
Though McCain argues she is only trying to help get more young people involved in the Republican Party and people like Coulter stifle their participation, it makes me wonder why she isn't going after the GOP establishment instead of entertainers? Coulter, like Rush Limbaugh, is not the head of the Republican Party or responsible for mobilizing the youth vote. Contentious or not, Limbaugh and Coulter have been consistent in their views --which is more than I can say for the Republican Party. The only thing the GOP has been consistent about in recent memory is consistentlyforgetting our principles and how to communicate them to American people. That is a turn off to any age group, young or old.
If Meghan McCain were serious about inspiring an influx of gen X and Y-ers, why not rage against the out-of -touch elected officials in Washington who've ran the GOP into the ground and still struggle with a cogent message? They've dropped the ball when it comes to communication with youth, Hispanics and women to name a few. This makes me think McCain's rant is not only misguided and poorly thought out, but also highly personal. Frankly as a young Republican myself, a party and politician standing on principle -- not pop culture -- is more attractive than any vapid cult-of-personality candidate who gets shout-outs at the MTV awards. Until we figure out what we stand for, latch on to some new ideas and a fresh way of articulating those themes we won't be attracting any new voters, Coulter or not.
Chances are Ann likely loves the attention since she's trying to sell her new book, and Meghan apparently is trying to curry favor with Daily Beast founder Tina Brown and her in-crowd. That's the problem with the McCain family: they are more concerned with being popular than they are about being right. Pun intended.
Andrea Tantaros is the former Press Secretary to the House Republican Conference and Massachusetts Governor William Weld. Her commentary can be foundatwww.andreatantaros.comand www.foxnews.com/opinion.
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