John's daughter Meghan is, in many ways, just what the GOP needs: She's young, gay-friendly, and not completely batshit crazy like the bulk of her party. I commend her for trying so hard to save what's left of the GOP from itself. And she certainly deserves kudos for telling Laura Ingraham to go to hell.
Having said that, she's also hopelessly out of her depth in trying to be a Serious Political Pundit®. This was shown, painfully, on a recent episode of Bill Maher's show, where Paul Begala (who I'm not usually too keen on) schooled her swiftly and simply about not knowing her history.
Today, she's given another even more blatant example of her cluelessness.
She starts off fine:
I don’t know if it’s the fact that I am younger, or that just have a more open-minded view of politicians and sex, but it’s of very little concern to me who elected officials sleep with.
But quickly delves into the shallow end of the clue pool:
I remember his [Sanford's] family being absolutely beautiful in that way Southern families often are...theirs was the very definition of a picture-perfect political family. It never crossed my mind that there would be any kind of scandal one day
...
We have to stop requiring that our politicians live at such a high level of moral superiority, as if they are infallible creatures. Let me assure you, they are not.
Really? Gee, thanks, Meghan; everyone I know thought that all politicians were loyal to their spouses until you set us straight. Thanks for the tip.
...and then into the same lying, disingenuous stance that the rest of her party has taken in recent years:
when these same politicians fall from grace—especially in the South—we demand that they leave office immediately.
Really? "Especially in the South"? David Vitter, anyone?
(Unlike, say, Eliot Spitzer, Governor Sanford didn’t do anything illegal. If he were to be convicted of misusing state funds for traveling to Argentina, then, of course, it is a different matter entirely and he should step down. )
Meghan, Meghan, Meghan...do you really have to make it so easy?
- As others have pointed out already, adultery is still a crime in South Carolina. I'm sure it hasn't been enforced in decades, but if Sanford wanted to sing Hello, Buenos Aries, he should have seen to it that the law was overturned first.
- Sanford failed to inform anyone, including his own staff, Chief of Staff, head of security, or Lt. Governor, of his whereabouts, nor did he give them any means of contacting him. His original flight itinerary was supposed to be for a full 10 days, not the 5 that he was gone for. Furthermore, he failed to transfer power over to his Lt. Governor during his absence (
over 10,000 almost 5,000 miles away).
That's dereliction of duty. No idea what the S. Carolina constitution says about that, but I'm guessing the state legislature and/or a judge won't take too kindly to any of it, if it comes to that.
- What if there had been a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or other major catastrophe? The Lt. Gov. would have been unable to take action. As Gov., Sanford is also C in C of the state National Guard, and was AWOL. Is a Commander in Chief (at any level) subject to military regulations regarding being AWOL? Probably not (since they're still a civilian), but still...
- He evidently didn't check in with the U.S. Embassy in Argentina when he arrived, which I'm pretty sure a sitting U.S. Governor is supposed to do, although I don't know if it's required or not. Sure sounds wise for security reasons if nothing else, though. Might want to check with the State Department on that one.
- As she did at least make note of, it's looking very likely that he was financing his affair on the public dime, which is also a no-no; that gets into misappropriation of funds and, possibly, abuse of power. And finally, it's looking more and more possible that "Maria", his mistress, may have stood to benefit from some of the trade deals that Sanford was officially discussing during his visits, though that's still murky.
Most of the above things should be enough for him to resign immediately. Combined, he'll be very lucky not to end up serving jail time as well.
But should we burn him at the stake and make him leave office? I don’t believe so. Because sex and politics are two very different things, even if sometimes they seem hopelessly entwined. What he does in his personal life, I believe, would have nothing to do with how he balances his state’s budget or conducts business.
Well, obviously it DID have a HELL of an impact on how he "conducted business" for the state, Meghan.
She does end on a "bipartisan" note, but even that is quite telling:
I, for one, lean more toward compassion and understanding—yes, even if Governor Sanford had been a Democrat—because I know from personal experience the pressure of perfection that is put on politicians and their families.
Well, OK, I give her a half point for making an obvious reference to her own fathers' cheating on his first wife with Cindy; If John McCain hadn't done so, Meghan McCain would literally not even exist. So, bully for recognizing that ones' affairs are ones' own business.
However, what she seems hopelessly naive about is that the hypocrisy on this issue is INHERENT to the modern GOP. They can't separate themselves from it--without that hypocrisy on "moral/values" issues, there's NOTHING LEFT for them to campaign on, period.
I invite you to read the whole thing--and especially the comments, which are blisteringly negative towards McCain, mostly making the same points I have and much, much more.
I'm disappointed. The writing level is that of a high school English student, her arguments are specious at best, and for someone who's supposed to represent the "sane, reasonable" side of the GOP, she comes off as something of a twit (without the "ter") here.
It's a shame, too, because there should be more decent foils on the right for the Dems; it'd be healthy. I was hoping that Meghan McCain would be one. Looks like I was wrong.
Update: Rec'ced, thanks, bla bla bla. However, I do want to chide those in the comments who've made inappropriate/sexual comments about Ms. McCain. I said that she comes off as a twit--that's not the same thing as saying that she's stupid. She doesn't strike me as being stupid--but she doesn't seem especially intelligent, either; she comes off as mind-numbingly average. She may be quite intelligent, but she sure is hiding it well with her ignorance about basic history. Sexual insults against her (or her mom), however, are inappropriate.
Sexual references about her FATHER, however, are fair game, as long as they're limited to his own infidelity, which obviously has some amount of relevance.
Frankly, in the Begala exchange (see the comments for the YouTube clip), what I found offensive wasn't her mea culpa about "not being born yet" when Reagan was blaming Carter for everything, but her "well I guess you just know everything and I'm the idiot blonde!" follow-up defense. Look, Meghan, you CHOSE to go on that show and state your case in front of other political talking heads. You knew that you were gonna face serious opposition. If you're ignorant about history, fine, but don't go trying to hide behind a "the mean man is shouting at a helpless little girl" routine afterwards. You can't have it both ways, ma'am: Either you're a Serious Political Pundit®, ready for battle, or you're just some recent college grad flapping her gums about stuff she doesn't know anything about, like millions of other people--very few of whom get to air their thoughts on the Bill Maher show, since their father isn't a U.S. Senator.