No comment on the relationship between the two, except to remind you that
Meghan McCain famously said she will not comment about
Sarah Palin at all, ever — thus providing a pretty clear comment. And in fact, Ms. McCain tries to squirm out of commenting on a great many things. But before we get into that, I need to share a metaphor I've never heard before, provided by Republican consultant
Mark McKinnon on an appearance with
Rachel Maddow July 7:
[Palin] may be crazier than an acre of snakes.
Hissssss! He surely has a point. Palin keeps forgetting that erstwhile almost-son-in-law
Levi Johnston has access to a national microphone whenever he wants it,
and that he lived in her daughter's bedroom for lo, those many months while they were waiting for their child to arrive (something which Palin tries to deny for fear of alienating her berserker moralist base.) Johnston nailed her this week by telling the press precisely why she quit the governorship early:
based on what he heard living in her house, she wanted the money for the book, and there's a possible reality show in the offing. And then, showing off her distinctly non-Presidential chops,
Palin sent a snarky spokeswoman out to accuse the 19-year-old father of her grandson of engaging in "fiction" and "acting."
Meanwhile, the press has been making much of Republican candidates for governor in New Jersey and
Virginia indicating a vigorous disinterest in having her appear on their behalf.
* What she buys them is far less than what she costs them in the sort of electorate those two states have.
Governor Rick Perry of Texas is eager to have her; he shares her husband's secessionist inclinations.
I caught Meghan McCain on
Real Time with Bill Maher last night; it was a re-run of the
June 19 show. She wants it both ways: at 24, she wants to be taken seriously, and to have the weight to appear with the likes of
Paul Begala, also on that night's roster. Maher pressed her several times about the way Palin lied about Letterman's recent joke about Bristol, tagging him as a rapist and child molester, versus the way her own father was lied about by Bush 43's campaign in 2000, being accused of fathering
"a black child out of wedlock and crazy from the 'Nam," and she'd chirp at him that she just wants to move on, move on, MOVE ON ALREADY MISTER OLD GUY. Maher said,
"Isn't that the same thing, telling lies about somebody?" In a Valley Girl whine, she responded,
I'd love to look forward in politics, and 2009 and the Obama administration. I hate talking about 2000, it was nine years ago, I was in puberty when it happened, like I'd love to move on and talk about my career now, that's what I'd love to do.
She giggled and snickered like a
Kathy Najimy character, complete with Najimy's head fakes, inflections, and postures.
Maher kept kid-gloving her, as she is, after all, still quite the kid and working hard to maintain that image. Giggle! Snicker! Wiggle!
Paul Begala finally put a smack down. Young McCain was opining that Obama, not yet six months into his administration, needs to quit
"completely blaming everything on its predecessor, completely... I'm sick of hearing, 'We were handed this, we were handed this...' I know, everybody knows, but we need to move on." (The press, btw, has made note that Obama does
not do this; that he rarely mentions Dubya at all, in any context). Begala said he felt Dubya had not been blamed
nearly enough, and remarked that
"Ronald Reagan blamed Jimmy Carter every day for eight years." McCain piped up winningly:
"Well, I wasn't born yet, so I wouldn't know."
"Well, I wasn't born during the French Revolution, but I know about it," Begala snapped back. She deserved it. Despite her modest self-deprecation in her intro, she seemed to want to be treated as an expert who was literally born yester
day year, someone born full-grown with a blog in the 2008 election, like Venus from the waves or Athena from her father's thigh, who should be permitted to pretend ignorance of all that went before.
Not all of the ignorance is pretense, however. Meghan McCain, youthful and pretty, made a big titillating splash with the weary journalists who'd been covering her septuagenarian papa when she boldly announced some months back that she's not a virgin and the Republican party needs to loosen up about sex. She tried to defend her remarks on Maher's show by explaining that the Party either considers a woman a
"pius" "holy virgin" and abstinent, or at least
"meant to be abstinent," (a reference to
Bristol Palin's leadership of Candie's abstinence campaign after the birth of her son) or a
"skank...a perverted sex addict," and that this isn't fair;
"unhealthy, especially for young women." Yes, dear, we know. Don't expect anything else from the Republican party, in which legislators keep mistresses or patronize prostitutes without any political consequences, while staunchly voting against sex ed, birth control, abortion, and gay marriage. Ms. McCain, how did you make it through college without ever hearing about the
Madonna-Whore dichotomy? Or did you assume it was just another slam at the singer? How could she make it through the conversation without using the phrase
"double standard"? It seems more than passing likely she's never
heard either phrase, or understood them if she has. McCain acted the fluffy bunny to the extent that Maher took on a distinctly kind and avuncular role, even
literally leaping up to defend her when Begala treated her like a grown-up, as well as gently telling her she'd done well before launching into his concluding monologue.
Maher had a
nice line to close the show:
"Over the last thirty-odd years, Democrats have moved to the right, and the Right has moved into a mental hospital." And that's a nice line to close this post with, as it circles right back 'round to Palin and the acre of snakes.
*This may be
in Virginia, where gubernatorial hopeful Bob McDonnell has welcomed the following parade of 2012 hopefuls: Haley Barbour (MS), Mike Huckabee (AR), Mitt Romney (MA, sort of), and Bobby Jindal (LA).