Twitter users were uninterested in McCain's reading choices, but were apparently very concerned about her decision to show them the tops of her breasts. A flurry of insults (now "temporarily unavailable") prompted her to tweet:

so I took a fun picture not thinking anything about what I was wearing but apparently anything other than a pantsuit I am a slut, this is

why I have been considering deleting my twitter account, what once was fun now just seems like a vessel for harassment

Later, she was more contrite:

I do want to apologize to anyone that was offended by my twitpic, I have clearly made a huge mistake and am sorry 2 those that are offended.

Did McCain really make a "huge mistake" by posting a picture of herself, fully clothed, with a book? It's tempting to say that she must've known people would be looking at her tits. However, McCain is clearly well-endowed in this department, and a tank top that might look like demure sleepwear on a smaller-chested woman looks revealing on her. Yes, she's been on camera a lot, but she's also 24 years old, and she's probably not used to being photographed without someone around to style her. She might have been legitimately unaware that her photo looked kind of cheesecakey.

Then there's the issue of who the fuck cares. LA Times blogger Johanna Neuman writes that, "if she's hurt by the reaction, you can only imagine how her parents feel." And Twitter user uselessgoo echoes, "I bet papa McCain is REAL happy." But John McCain is probably aware that his daughter has breasts. And given that she is in fact wearing a shirt over them, I doubt he's really all that scandalized. All Meghan McCain has really done is turn the image of the buttoned-up, hyper-conservative Republican woman on its head, which she's been doing for a while anyway. Twitter user ReikoEoh writes,

It makes me laugh bc she's so "Unrepublican-like" and upfront about everything; not the usual GOP hypocrite. So rad!

Showing off your boobs may not determine whether or not you're a hypocrite, but it does make Megan McCain look "Unrepublican-like," and thus it may be kind of a smart move. As we mentioned earlier, McCain is getting a lot of press as a young, cool, socially liberal Republican, and this picture — on Twitter, no less — can only strengthen that perception. It might also help drive traffic to her latest venture, a column at The Daily Beast, where she recently wrote about Jessica Simpson, another public figure whose breasts have gotten a lot of attention. Blogger Adam Ostrow writes,

That seems unlikely, as the buzz created is no doubt helping her stats over at The Daily Beast, and her account has become an important medium for promoting her work. Before signing off for the night, she even posted a link to her latest post. Ultimately, this just might add up to a savvy social media play, even if unintentional.

McCain probably shouldn't delete her Twitter account just yet.

Meghan McCain Twitter Photo Causes Stir [Detroit Free Press]
McCainBlogette [Twitter]
Meghan McCain Exposes Her Cup Size On Twitter — Maybe Republicans Really Are Out Of Ideas [LA Times]
Meghan McCain's Twitter Photo Creates Drama [Mashable]
Stop The Fat Jokes! [The Daily Beast]

In a Washington Post editorial today, columnist Kathleen Parker hails entrepreneurs Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina and famous daughters Meghan McCain and Liz Cheney as "a glimpse at what could become a surge of hormonal correction on the conservative side." Whitman is running for governor of California, Fiorina is challenging Barbara Boxer in the Senate, Liz Cheney just started a new website, and Meghan McCain is, well, Meghan McCain. Parker points out that these women — especially those actually campaigning — might help mitigate the dearth of powerful women in the Republican party, which currently boasts only three female governors. She writes,

This deficit in high office is both a taint on the GOP and a reflection of the broader assumption that Republicans are monolithically against women's rights. Specifically, the party's pro-life platform alienates pro-choice women, as well as moderates, who otherwise might find common cause with conservative principles.

Women such as pro-choice Whitman and "personally" pro-life Fiorina could help change that impression, while also raising other issues women care about. Fiorina caused a slight ripple in the Republican zeitgeist during McCain's campaign when she criticized insurance companies for covering Viagra and not birth control.

Parker points out that Meghan McCain is pretty liberal on social issues too, and that she, Whitman, and Fiorina might represent an emerging breed of Republican woman — one ready to roll back some of the GOP's more woman-hating policies. This would presumably be good for women who are, say, fiscally conservative, but who have felt alienated by the party's direction in the last 20 years or so. That said, Liz Cheney is pretty much a chip off the old block of grade-A evil, and Parker's predictions of a woman-led tide of greater ideological diversity slam up short when they hit one very visible woman: Rep. Michele Bachmann.

In a Times profile, Monica Davey tallies up the disturbing markers of Bachmann's popularity. She's in the calendar of "Great American Conservative Women"
(apparently she's November). She appears on cable an average of once every nine days. She's seeking reelection to the House, but some speculate she might run for governor of Minnesota. And Sean Hannity has called her "the second-most-hated Republican woman in the country, second to Governor Palin, which is a good position." Given that Bill O'Reilly also thinks she's hot, Bachmann's cred with the far right could hardly be higher.

Of course, she's also batshit insane. Davey points out that Bachmann won't complete her census forms because she thinks they're "intrusive." She thinks health-care reform means death panels and "prayer and fasting" are the way to stop it. She also thinks reform will cause schoolgirls to "be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night." And she apparently thinks Obama might try to get rid of the dollar. It's not just that Bachmann's views aren't woman-friendly — they're not friendly to anyone with a brain.

Parker's hopes for a "hormonal correction" to the Republican Party are all fine and dandy, but being a woman doesn't necessarily mean that you're in favor of women's reproductive rights — or that you're sane. McCain, Whitman, and Fiorina might be early signs of an expanding and diversifying GOP, or they might be decoys, luring fiscally conservative but socially liberal women into a party that's not really going to represent them. Sarah Palin continues to consolidate her power (this time with a national organization called Stand Up for Our Nation), Liz Cheney echoes her dad's old pro-waterboarding rhetoric, and Republican women who stray too far outside the party line (like Olympia Snowe) get called "stupid girls" and, interestingly, "Jezebels" by conservative commentators. So while a newer, broader GOP is a nice idea, Meghan McCain and her ilk might just be beckoning moderate women into a tent that doesn't actually have much room for them.

Time For The GOP Women [Washington Post]
A G.O.P. Agitator Not Named Palin [NYT]
Palin To Launch 'Stand Up For Our Nation' [Politico]
Conservative Radio Launches Sexist Attacks Against Snowe, Collins [Media Matters]

Angyal neatly sidesteps the ever popular "catfighting women!" angle and instead shifts the focus on why so many conversations about prominent women in the public eye revolve around their physical appearance. She writes:

It's notable that in both of these cases, women were attacking their own. In an age where "bitchy" women make for big news and big box office, it would be easy to imagine that women are to blame for their own double-bind. But the truth is, America has a widespread cultural discomfort with women in positions of power. Sexist remarks about Clinton's appearance and demeanor, made by Chris Matthews and other pundits, were infuriatingly frequent during last year's primaries.

Indeed they were. As you may remember, the Women's Media Center put together a video for their campaign Sexism Sells, But We Aren't Buying It, released during the height of the election season:

Sadly, this can't just be blamed on the crush of the election cycle - the gendered attacks on women working in and around politics have continued to this very day.

I fully cosign with Angyal when she concludes:

The time has come for America to decide: are we going to be a nation in which any person, regardless of their appearance, can contribute their valuable ideas to our public debate? Or are we going to continue to waste time, and women's talent, chatting about lipstick, hairstyles, shorts and pantsuits?

The Female Journalists Who Weigh Down Political Discussion [Splice Today]

Related: Sexism Sells —- But We're Not Buying It [WMC]

This is a question I've been wrestling with since the last election cycle showed an implosion of the Republican party. While a lot of my early mentors leaned a bit right, the Republicans have shown less and less of a desire to be the party of small government and fiscal responsibility, and more of an inclination to embrace as much hatred and bigotry that they can find.

As I laughed watching the GOP blatantly pander by promoting Michael Steele (probably trying to trade on some of that "Barack the Magic Negro" sparkle they thought was falling from Obama), and cheered when Christopher S. Buckley decamped from the GOP, I still felt a twinge of sadness.

I strongly believe that we need at least two viable political parties to have a constructive dialogue about governance in this country, and that has not been the case for a very long time.

Meghan McCain seems to agree. Through her blog and her columns on the Daily Beast, McCain has been trying to steer the party away from the demagogues and back toward relevance. She strongly calls out pundits like Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter who trade in intolerance:

To make matters worse, certain individuals continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes about Republicans. Especially Republican women. Who do I feel is the biggest culprit? Ann Coulter. I straight up don't understand this woman or her popularity. I find her offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time.

McCain is right to express bafflement - the personas that Coulter and Malkin use to promote themselves and their work are inherently sensationalized, valuing sound bytes and screaming over thoughtful, reasoned arguments.

Sometimes, the rhetoric is so ridiculous, I start to think that maybe Ann Coulter is just making all of this up:

Okay, so maybe it didn't happen like that. However, Ann Coulter is so over-the-top it is difficult to find any semblance of argument within her rantings and distortions. If she admitted this was all for publicity, it would be a relief. Examining Michelle Malkin's work doesn't provide much more to work with - after all, someone who wrote a tome defending internment during World War II in order to justify using racial profiling in the wake of 9/11 is obviously ready and willing to overlook inconvenient things (like facts) to make a point.

McCain's columns, by comparison, tend to be a breath of fresh air. In a very basic and personal way, she explains some of the key components of the GOP platform and explains why she embraces (or, in some cases rejects) these planks. Her discussion of the divide between Dems and Repubs focuses mainly on age and religion. But, she did speak out against Audra Shay titling her piece "Do NOT Elect a Racist," noting, "She represents the same old stereotypes about "young Republicans"-apparently racist and more middle-aged than youthful. In short, disconnected from the real youth of this country."

I suppose "the real youth" didn't show up to vote - Audra Shay won the election, putting yet another nail into the Republican coffin.

McCain herself seems to recognize this, often questioning is there room for a moderate in her party of choice. As she ends her latest piece against Michelle Malkin, she notes:

It's true that Democrats make being a member appealing in a much different way than the Republican Party does. The Democrats seem to have mastered inclusiveness-whereas Republicans, like a country club, seem to require a litmus test. But if people like Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter think they can bully me into giving up this fight and what I am doing, they are going to be severely disappointed. And I can assure them that unless they start being realistic about the cultural and generational differences between the two sides of the party, there will not be a new generation of Republicans.

Is Meghan going to be the future? Her assertions in her piece are correct. She does represent a clearer vision of the youth in this country than anyone currently ranking in the Republican party. And she does pwn Michelle Malkin on Twitter - Meghan has 53,664 followers on Twitter, versus Michelle's 25,897 (which may, as she states, be a better indicator of demographic clout that the New York Times bestseller list.)

But if we have seen anything over the past eight years, then we know that the Republicans aren't really interested in understanding the times.

As Christopher Buckley wrote in his send off note last fall, "to paraphrase a real conservative, Ronald Reagan: I haven't left the Republican Party. It left me. "

Meghan, your party has left you.

Perhaps it's time stop trying to reform the old and look at creating something new.

My Message for Michelle Malkin [The Daily Beast]

Related: Barack The Magic Negro [Wikipedia]
My Beef With Ann Coulter [The Daily Beast]
Do NOT Elect A Racist [The Daily Beast]
Sorry Dad I Was Fired [The Daily Beast]
Screed: With Treason, Ann Coulter Once Again Defines A New Low In America's Spiritual Debate [Spinsanity]

On one hand, I do feel a bit sorry for McCain, as I think her point about making an effort to go on shows intended to reach a different audience (she mentions the "shit" she's getting simply for daring to appear on Bill Maher's program, a political talk show that aims to engage panelists from various political viewpoints) was a good one. On the other hand, it's a bit tough to feel much sympathy when she has willingly chosen to make herself the voice of the "new" Republican party: nobody is forcing her to go on these shows, and surely she knows how these things go by now.

When McCain argued that President Obama's administration needed to stop blaming their current problems on the Bush administration and move on, Paul Begala, a CNN commentator and former adviser to President Bill Clinton, pointed out that President Ronald Reagan did the same thing when he took over for President Jimmy Carter, blaming Carter's administration for many of his troubles. When McCain pulled out her "I wasn't born yet line," Begala was able to expose a huge flaw in the Meghan McCain political machine: an inability to back up and defend her fairly strong statements with facts and figures. Her reaction after being shut down by Begala was also infuriating: "...you clearly know everything and I'm just the blonde sitting here," a statement which did nothing to help her seem capable of arguing her points but made it sound like she was being bullied simply because she's young and blonde. Begala was not going after McCain for her age or her hair color, or even for being the daughter of a prominent Republican senator: he was going after her for not having the information to back up her statements.

Watching McCain attempt to engage in conversation with four other panelists who held vastly different political opinions was awkward in that she seemed to approach the situation ready and willing to play the victim. And Bill Maher didn't help things any by constantly patting her on the shoulder and stepping in front of McCain after Begala's smackdown to say, "He's a mean man, that Paul Begala. I'll protect you."

Maher, please. Meghan McCain is a 24-year-old woman who has willingly chosen to make herself a spokesperson for the young people of her party. She doesn't need to be protected from criticism: she needs to be able to take it, and throw back some legitimate criticisms of her own. I respect McCain for making an effort to appear on unfriendly territory and try to make her case, but if she really expects to be taken seriously, she's going to have to go in armed with enough knowledge to back up her words.

Paul Begala Schools Meghan McCain [Huffington Post]

"Would David Letterman ever make such a joke about President Obama's daughters (or for that matter Al Gore's, or substitute another high-profile Democratic politician," McCain asks, "President Obama's daughter Malia is not much younger than Willow, and I am certain that David Letterman would never make a joke about Malia being raped by Eliot Spitzer or refer to the first lady as looking 'slutty. Why is it funny to make fun of a 14-year-old girl, no matter who her mother is, let alone that of one of the most prominent female politicians in the country?"

McCain has a point, in that Letterman's remarks were not funny, and it should be considered off limits to make fun of the children of politicians, as they are children, and private citizens who did not ask to be placed in the spotlight. However, it's interesting that McCain blasts Letterman and makes the point about "an aggressive double standard for Republican women," considering her own father notoriously made nasty remarks about Chelsea Clinton, quipping, "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno." Chelsea was 18 years old at the time.

"Is it too much to ask to leave a 14-year-old girl out of a late-night joke? Apparently in today's media, yes it is, especially when it is the daughter of a Republican politician," McCain writes. I guess it's also too much to ask for McCain to acknowledge that certain Republican politicians have also crossed the line when it comes to presidential daughters.

David Letterman's Double Standard [TheDailyBeast]
A Joke Too Bad To Print? [Salon]

The crux of Warner's argument seems to be that Meghan McCain's efforts to mesh a political persona with her more personal side (as evidenced by her Colbert appearance, apparently?) make her look foolish, water down her message and will doom her career as a pundit or political person.

She says: You can't do these things because they're just stupid and, when you're already a sitting duck, particularly one who at some point in her career could very well rise to make a valuable contribution, you just can't afford to look stupid.

You can't because you end up sounding like a much younger, much dumber (which you're not), much less savvy (which you are) version of Sarah Palin...

Well, Meghan McCain is nearly half Sarah Palin's age, but I didn't see McCain looking stupid or un-savvy on Colbert — or in any of her other recent television appearances. She came across as she always does (and has likely been trained to), which is to say relatively articulate, politically moderate (while still speaking in GOP-code about guns, God and country) and approachable to people her own age.

But the more telling part of Warner's statement might be the "at some point in her career." Warner — who writes for the New York Times — seems a teeny bit cheesed off that McCain has gotten so big so young or, in Warner's words, has been "endowed with a soapbox years before [she's] paid your dues" and adds,

I really have no business feeling sympathy for a wealthy, pretty, well-connected recent Columbia grad who's already been given a political blog by Tina Brown, who's already been paid a reported high six figures to write on the future of the Republican party...

I mean, McCain is young, and she is privileged and, being the daughter of the last Republican candidate for President, she has gotten a pretty big soapbox. And — horrors! — she's using it to advocate that Republicans support same sex marriage and that people (including Republicans) take a more nuanced look at what being a Republican means, among other things. Do I disagree with some of her stances? Certainly. Do I blame that on her age? Absolutely not.

Warner thinks that McCain admitting, such as it is, that she's not a virgin and that she's "pro-sex" is an embarrassment and will only hurt McCain down the road. I think admitting in front of millions of people — including your family — the likely obvious truth that she's sexually active is both courageous (the memory of having that discussion just with my parents makes me shudder to this day) and a pretty overtly political act. By doing so, McCain brought home the already-interesting statement about the foolishness of abstinence-only education and the Republican insistence on putting a doily over the truth that most people have sex before marriage. She made herself — willingly and openly — the poster child for how being an openly sexual person isn't (and shouldn't be) quite so embarrassing, which is actually a really big deal thing for a lot of people. I think McCain knew exactly what she was doing — just as I think that her Twitter and McCainBlogette and the rest of her appearances are a savvy way of building a personal brand of political savvy and personal accessibility. I don't feel sorry for her in the least.

The Young And The Snarky [NY Times]

Earlier: Meghan McCain Talks Sex, Marriage With Colbert

• Sarah Palin appears on American Chopper tonight to laud the patriotism of Paul Teutul and his son, Paul Jr., as well as invite them to her fishin' hole. That's not a euphemism. [ThinkProgress]

• At last night's primetime press conference, Barack Obama said he thinks waterboarding is torture, regardless of what Sean Hannity or a bunch of self-serving, legacy-protecting GOP asswipes say. [Reuters]
• Condoleezza Rice says that since President Bush was fine with the waterboarding, and that obviously torture wasn't illegal, despite the fact that Nixon tried that excuse once and was excoriated until he had the good sense to die. [Huffington Post]
• President Obama is also concerned about Pakistan becoming more of a clusterfuck than it already is. See? He's paying attention! [NY Times]
• One thing he wasn't paying attention to last night was Fox News. [Politico]
• Republicans are pointing fingers at one another following Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter's departure from the GOP, with even Senator Orrin Hatch suggesting that GOP donor dollars might be better directed at defeating Democrats in general elections than defeating moderate Republicans in primaries with candidates that can't win general elections. Who I would ever pronounce Orrin Hatch the shining intellectual light of the GOP? [Politico]
• Despite what she may believe, Meghan McCain, is no intellectual light of the GOP. Also, people write her mean e-mails. [Daily Beast]
• Only 20 percent of Americans currently identify as Republican. [Plum Line]
• Which is, of course, why some GOP officials are trying to strip GOP Chairman Michael Steele of any actual power within the Republican National Committee. You can't be a token if you have any real power to change anything! [Politico]
• The prosecutions of the Bush Administration's biggest pro-torture advocates are apparently back on in Spain. [Daily Beast]
• The House passed a federal hate crimes bill for LGBT Americans yesterday, but not without Alcee Hastings reading a list of sex acts an unidentified GOP colleague tried to make sure weren't covered under the bill — including pedophilia, necrophilia and zoophilia. Yes, apparently there are Republicans who still believe that homosexuality is exactly like assaulting corpses and/or children and/or animals. [NY Times, Huffington Post]
• While that was going on, North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx called the Matthew Shepard murder a "hoax". [Huffington Post]
• In the meantime, the New Hampshire Senate voted to legalize same-sex marriage there, giving a metaphorical finger to assholes like Virginia Foxx and Carrie Prejean. [NY Times]

• Renowned male supremacist Larry Summers just couldn't keep his eyes open during a meeting with credit card company executives and Barack Obama yesterday afternoon. Shit's boring! [ThinkProgress]

• The purpose of the meeting, by the way, was to warn credit card companies to stop jacking up rates and adding unexpected fees to bills. But Larry Summers is rich, bitch, so what the fuck does he care? [LA Times]
• Obama still has a 56% approval rating, despite the public fuck-ups of many of the people working for him. [Real Clear Politics]
• He has, however, publicly rebuffed the idea of truth commissions for the Bushies, so that number might go down. [Washington Post]
• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is providing him political cover by rejecting the idea, too. [Politico]
• Liz Cheney has decided that the definition of torture doesn't include anything we would do to our own people. [ThinkProgress]
• By the way, even Bush's FBI Director said that all that torture didn't stop a single terror plot. [Plum Line]
• When even Meghan McCain thinks Cheney should shut up and go away, he should probably take it under consideration. [Time]
• Sarah Palin's got a brand new legal defense fund to pay all her legal bills for the unethical shit she plans on continuing to do. [Wall Street Journal]
• Randi Rhodes, the "left-wing" talk show host that called Hillary Clinton a "big fucking whore" last year, is getting another shot at a radio show. [Huffington Post]
• Michael Steele is caving to right-wing pressure regarding Kathleen Sebelius' nomination and the fact that she's pro-choice. [Breitbart]
• Michelle Obama did a kiddie press conference yesterday, and said Bo the dog likes to nibble toes. I didn't know Dick Morris was dead, let alone that he'd been reincarnated! [ABC News]

McCain continued her attack on divisive Republican tactics at the Log Cabin Republicans Convention last night, noting that she feels "many Republicans want to cling to past successes. There are those who think we can win the White House and Congress back by being 'more' conservative. Worse, there are those who think we can win by changing nothing at all about what our party has become. They just want to wait for the other side to be perceived as worse than us. I think we're seeing a war brewing in the Republican Party. But it is not between us and Democrats. It is not between us and liberals. It is between the future and the past." As for Coulter, McCain calls her "overly partisan and divisive."

Meghan McCain: 'Old School' Republicans Are "Scared Shitless" [HuffingtonPost]

[Los Angeles, March 28. Image via Getty.]

• Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop, delivered a four-minute invocation at the Mall on Sunday. Although HBO had exclusive rights to broadcast the invocation it did not make it to air. [Politico]

• Thoroughly reliable source and garbage PUMA blogger Perez Hilton says that Robinson's invocation didn't air because Obama's people told HBO not to air it. [Perez Hilton]
• HBO says that the invocation did not air because of a "planning error." The Inaugural concert began its live broadcast at 2:30pm (ET) and Robinson's invocation started at 2:20pm (ET). The invocation will air in repeats and will stream on HBO.com. [Deadline Hollywood]
• Meanwhile, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 61% of people surveyed said they back Rick Warren as the inaugural invocation pick. [Washington Post]
• Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back yesterday while moving boxes into his new house. He will be attending Obama's inauguration in a wheelchair. [Reuters]
• Meanwhile, on Monday a federal judge lifted an injunction requiring preservation of Dick Cheney's records because she said she expected Cheney to preserve them himself. The injunction was put in place when a group of government watchdogs and historians claimed that Cheney might destroy some of his records. [UPI]
• Blogette Meghan McCain got an exclusive interview with her mother for The Daily Beast. Cindy said that although she "is not bitter" she did think there was a strong bias in the media against her husband, John McCain. [Wonkette, Poynter]
• Last night Obama held a dinner honoring McCain whom he called an American hero and whose bipartisanship he hopes to follow. [MSNBC, The Page]
• McCain has told Fox News that Palin could someday be President. [The Page]
• An effigy of Sarah Palin with a noose around her neck was taken off of eBay on Sunday. This is the same effigy that was protested by the Mayor of West Hollywood when it was hung outside of a West Hollywood home of a professional window dresser and his partner before the election. [UPI]
• George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, died peacefully in his sleep last night. He was 62. [The Onion]
• Nancy Pelosi went on Fox News to say that she wants Obama to extend the Bush tax cuts (for families earning more than $250,000) when they expire in 2010. [Politico]
• Adorable child-reporter Damon Weaver is still looking to lock down a one-on-one with Obama as he covers the inauguration today. [NPR]
• Ha ha: Bush has decided to not pardon Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, for his 2007 conviction in the CIA leak case. [Newsweek]
• Sources say that Obama may quickly issue an executive order to reverse a Bush abortion policy (commonly called "the Mexico City policy") that prohibited funding for international family planning groups that provided, promoted or provided information about abortion services. [CNN]
• Bill Ayers has been denied entry into Canada because of a 1969 conviction during an anti-war demonstration. [MSNBC]
• Oh yeah: in keeping with tradition, Bush left a note for Obama . [MSNBC]

So, yes, Hillary Clinton is speaking about her nomination and the Obama Administration's views on a variety of important foreign policy issues, all of which have been vetted up the wazoo by the incoming Administration so if you were expecting to hear something unscripted, you mostly have to listen to the Code Pink people in the audience who keep slipping up on the whole "being quiet" thing but haven't yet been kicked out. I also saw Andrea Mitchell in the flesh, but despite recognizing her, she didn't seem to recognize me. I'm attributing that to the fact that I am wearing my hair up. Anyway, it's pretty clear she's going to get grilled on Gaza and donations to the Clinton Foundation which should totally not be boring except when it will be.

In what is totally not an effort to make up for the Rick Warren thingie, the Inaugural Committee announced that the openly homosexual Episcopal New Hampshire bishop V. Gene Robinson will be giving the invocation at the opening event of the whole inaugural clusterfuck on Sunday, just before Beyoncé takes the stage and tells the world that if he likes he, he shoulda put a ring on it. And, although like too many people on YouTube Mike Huckabee, like, totally taught himself that dance he is not pro-gay. His colleague in non-gay Republican-ness, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell knows that if he ever felt like wanted a dude to bend him over, he would totally resist the urge to take it up the ass.

Speaking of taking it up the ass, Harry Reid still ain't shitting right after Roland Burris bent him over despite the parts where he seems like he's quite possibly insane and was nominated by a guy that just got impeached. If Roland Burris can out maneuver Harry Reid, what the hell hope does Reid have of out-maneuvering the Republicans?

In the mean time, Obama is planning on reversing some of Bush's more torturrific executive orders next week. Obama is getting so popular that even North Korea wanted to attend the Inauguration, but I think that was the plot of the sequel to Team America World Police so it's not going to happen. Also not happening? Obama's tax credit for new jobs that he promised during the campaign, but he is promising the stimulus won't be sexist, so there's that at least.

And while New York Governor David Paterson might or might not be violating open government laws by not speaking about who he's thinking about nominating for Hillary's seat, no one cares because Meghan McCain isn't talking about Sarah Palin. Apparently, a catfight is still more interesting to most people than a Senate seat.

MEGAN: I am sitting here watching CNBC and drinking coffee, which I don't normally do. By the way, the economy: still fucked.

LATOYA: Lucky you — I'm already in the office. I know the economy is still fucked — why do you think I'm here? I think we need to chill for the long haul on this one. It's gonna be a while, new stimulus package or no.

MEGAN: I love, by the way, that John McCain is all like, "Obama just wants to throw money at problems like education and special needs kids!" and in the meantime, he's all Mr. New Spending. And Republicans are shoveling money at the market faster than they shovel bullshit at the American people.

LATOYA: Yeah, some free market this is. I didn't know some people got a string to pull if you fucked up. Looks like Bernake's ProBama.

MEGAN: This is what happens when you tell reporters that the economy isn't your strong suit and the economy goes to shit. Also, insulting your opponent by calling him a Socialist while the government is busy nationalizing entire industries and you're calling for the government to, in effect, buy the mortgage rights to have the country is not good either. Bob Schieffer knows that most Republicans are privately Pro-bama these days, they're just too scared to say. It's just the mouth-breathers who don't actually have to, like, work in the government that are all like JOHN AND SARAH OH MY GOD I LOVE THEM SO.

LATOYA: Details, Megan, Details Is it just me that's hoping for a reverse Bradley effect?

MEGAN: If I prayed, I'd pray for one.

LATOYA: Don't waste your prayer on that. The specter of election '00 still haunts us.

MEGAN: Well, I mean, She's supposedly omnipotent, right?

LATOYA: If this comes down to the Supreme Court, I want everyone on this: protest, prayers, fertility dances. I don't give a damn what you do, do it in the Obama direction.

MEGAN: I'm up for a fertility dance, even if it means I have to be celibate for a month.

LATOYA: Nah, you have to stick with the prayers. We have to counteract the scared evangelicals.

MEGAN: Awww, poor babies, once they've denounced him, called him godless, passed around rumors that he's a Muslim and campaigned against him, they're worried he won't talk to them about their conservative, intolerant social agenda? Color me sad.

LATOYA: It's only unfair when you're losing. I'm just concerned they'll call up the ghost of Jerry Falwell.

MEGAN: Oh, right. I mean, it's his duty to represent all the people in the United States, sort of like it was George Bush's duty.

LATOYA: Define "people". Obviously, some of us who aren't here yet count more than those of us who are here, so maybe they just are counting most of us heathens.

MEGAN: Well, I think that by "people" they mean "those of them that are saved" and so that's anything that's in our uteri, and (white) evangelicals. Other than that, um, oh, wait, I think Bush had Chalabi's back for a while when he went to invade Iraq.

LATOYA: Then again, maybe it isn't the extreme set that we should be worried about. Someone shot a bear cub in the head and dropped some Obama campaign tags over its dead body. Now, there are multiple layers of fucked up in that mix and the story doesn't have many details yet. But that is just sick and disgusting.

MEGAN: Also, I think we need an alibi for Sarah Palin. She was just in North Carolina.

LATOYA: Ha — you can handle that. I'm watching how Obama is leaving the campaign trail to visit his sick grandma. It's the little things that get to me in this election, it really is.

MEGAN: I mean, if they sent her home from the hospital last week, and she's that ill, she's probably in hospice care.

LATOYA: Perhaps. I hope she gets well.

MEGAN: I hope for his sake that he gets there in time, and that he's taking Sasha and Malia.

LATOYA: See, I can't even read a sweet story like that without getting pissed. On one hand you have a family man, someone in a partnership with his wife, a thinking politician, someone who has seen the best and worst of America and wants to serve us anyway...

MEGAN: I mean, his spokesman all but said she's not going to get better. It sucks that she won't get to vote for her grandson. And it probably sucks more that if she votes absentee, some Republican will probably object.

LATOYA: Sigh. Moving on. Oh, did you hear? We apparently hate real Americans. Because obviously, we are fake Americans. This isn't news to me — we talk about how PoC are marginalized in America all day every day at my spot — but I thought you would want to know.

MEGAN: Well, that's good to know, at least. If I'm disenfranchised at the polls in two weeks, at least I'll know why. So, am I to assume there's a new God test for citizenship? Do I have to swear fealty to a particular brand of God to vote? Are they going to make me submit to a lie detector to make sure I really believe in God?

LATOYA: Oh, it gets better:

Warming up a crowd in North Carolina Saturday, Republican Rep. Robin Hayes offered the diagnosis that “liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God.”

His remarks came shortly after he had said he would “make sure we don’t say something stupid, make sure we don’t say something we don’t mean.”

Hayes had followed Rep. Patrick McHenry, also a North Carolina Republican, who laid out the choice between McCain and Obama.

“It’s like black and white,” yelled someone from the crowd.

You just can't make this shit up. You really can't.

MEGAN: I love how that shit is a) not stupid and b) not something he doesn't mean. Really, can we just pick somewhere for them all to go on November 6th?

LATOYA: Mars?

MEGAN: Perfect! And since it takes 3 years to get there, they won't be back until 2014. I think that's a good plan.

LATOYA: We should tell them real Americans set up camp on Mars.

MEGAN: No, we should tell them that God has called them to journey there, just like God called Moses to lead the Jews out of Egypt. Charlton Heston already left! Outer space is the new desert.

LATOYA: It so is. Mars is red, the Red Sea — we could totally sell this. This is shaping up to be a tough week for McCain. He's running out of cash (down to $47 million!) and he's breaking up with Colin Powell.

MEGAN: I'm actually surprised he has $47 million left when he only had $84 to start. But, then I read about Meg Whitman giving almost $100,000 despite donation "limits" that McCain's supposed campaign finance reform put into place and I'm not that surprised anymore.

LATOYA: I would say something about saving and fiscal responsibility, but it just looks like creative loopholing. I find it interesting that McCain is shocked Colin Powell didn't call.

MEGAN: I mean, why does no one but me point out that McCain wrote the loopholes?

LATOYA: Makes sense though. That's how he knows what to use. I'm still on the McCain/Powell break up. Maybe Powell didn't feel like being called Judas. That title was already flexed on Gov. Richardson. Or maybe Sarah drove a rift in their relationship. Hmmm...

MEGAN: Given how leaky McCain's organization is — as evidenced by no less than 3 staffers telling CNN they're giving up on Colorado — I'm not totally surprised. Plus, when do you think the last time was that McCain called him up? With all the whispers for weeks that Powell was thinking about breaking it off, why wouldn't John call him and be like, Colin, baby, I'm sorry, I've been really busy, let me buy you a drink when this is all over...? Especially since they weren't in an exclusive relationship.

LATOYA: Does Colin Powell have a Facebook page? Maybe John should have checked their status. Telephone is so pre-2000. Maybe Colin sent him a "TTYL" and he just stopped paying attention. I guess after 25 years, the thrill is gone. It's the end of a bromance. We should send him a CD. Or at least email Meghan McCain, have her post "How Come You Don't Call Me" in his honor

MEGAN: Powell's all about "You Don't Own Me."

LATOYA: LOL — "Don't tell me what to say!"

MEGAN: "Don't say I can't go with other boys!"

LATOYA: "Just let me be myself...that's all I ask of you!"

MEGAN: In my head, Colin Powell is, crying, singing this into his hairbrush like Bridget Jones, slightly drunk.

LATOYA: "I'm free — and I love to be free!" See, now that's going to be stuck in my head all day!

MEGAN: I'm a terrible person, I apologize.

Pitchfork's Amy Phillips breaks it down:

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Meghan McCain didn't just pick this song randomly, since she usually picks songs that have something to do with what her blog posts are about. So what the hell is going on here?

A) Meghan McCain completely doesn't understand sarcasm and truly believes that this song is about how the economy will just work itself out and everything will be all right. (See also: Ronald Reagan's re-appropriation of Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A.")
B) Meghan McCain is using this song as a critique of people who are against the government's proposed $700 million bailout of Wall Street, which her father supports. "Uh huh, the free market is going to fix everything, ha ha," she says. "Riiiiight."
C) Meghan McCain wants to overthrow the entire capitalist system!

It's so obviously C. Duh! Because Meghan wants to stage a violent coup. Look at those plotting eyes! She should change her blog name to McCain Marxistette.

Meghan McCain and Stereolab: What Is Going on Here? [Pitchfork]
"First Debate - Part 2" [McCain Blogette]

Earlier: Meghan McCain's Chronic Overshares: Savvy or Silly?

Speaking of YouTube, Meghan has been able to utilize new media, something her old-as-dirt daddy has pretty much avoided. Slate's Malone notes that after a gaffe on the Today Show, (Meghan said "No one knows what war is like other than my family. Period.") Meghan went straight to her blog to qualify her words.

Meghan has obviously hit a nerve with more than a few women, and Malone parses Meghan's appeal quite accurately. Where I disagree with Malone is in her description of the "mini-generation gap" between 28-year-old Chelsea Clinton and 23-year-old Meghan. "At Stanford, Chelsea was largely able to escape from the press. Most of Meghan's time at Columbia took place in the Facebook era, when politician's children's pages were suddenly fair game. Seriousness was rewarded for Chelsea and her cohort," Malone writes. "But it's been attention-grabbing that has thus far been rewarded for younger women like Meghan—and me—who've grown up in a post-YouTube, post-Britney era. We've been shown that it pays to behave like permanent teenagers, and Meghan has slickly figured out a way to get the most out of this."

Indeed, by talking to the press, Meghan has received far more attention than the notoriously guarded Chelsea. But I'd argue that the difference between Meghan and Chelsea is more personality based, and less micro generational. In addition, the sort of "attention grabbing" that is allegedly being rewarded for Britney and her discontents has almost entirely negative results. Yes, Britney made a lot of money and was splashed over many headlines, but she also went batshit insane. And yes, Meghan McCain's oversharing gets her attention and a certain amount of stars-are-just-like-us acknowledgment, but is that really going to translate into votes for her dad? I know many non-Democrat women, definitely of my mother's age, but also of my own age, who were appalled at the way Bristol Palin has been thrust into the campaign spotlight, and I'd imagine they'd be similarly appalled by the awkward lunches between Meghan McCain and Hills doyenne Heidi Montag. But maybe I'm wrong, and Meghan's "haute-trashy" look, saccharine blogette and downplayed Columbia degree are exactly what will get her father votes. If that's the case we might as well pack it in and revive our livejournals.

Blogette Girl [Slate]
McCain Blogette [Meghan McCain]

Earlier: Meghan McCain Will Not Date Journalists
New Yorker Profile Shows Cindy McCain Is A Nouveau Betty Draper

Miss Buffalo Chip isn't a beauty contest in the traditional sense — it's a relatively debauched topless (and sometimes bottomless) multiday contest where women dance, jiggle and reportedly even perform blow jobs on bananas for the titillation of the spectators. And John McCain offered up his 54-year-old wife as a contestant.

And, let be frank, he didn't do it just because she's pretty or has an enviable body for a 54-year-old woman or because he's proud of his wife's brand of socialite beauty. He did it to pander to the crowd's idea of appropriate masculinity, and that apparently includes over-sexualizing your wife and the mother of your children for the amusement of a few people in a crowd. McCain offered up the thought of his wife objectifying herself for the sexual gratification of others (at his suggestion) in order to get a couple of chuckles, inspire some male fantasy and make a few "friends." Fun!

And you might say that John McCain didn't think of it as an objectification ritual, or that he didn't know that it involved nudity and displays of stimulated sex acts or whatever. Well, then, why wasn't he offering to get his very pretty daughter Meghan up on stage? Suggesting a 24-year-old woman participate in a just-a-beauty pageant wouldn't be so outside the the norm, if he thought it would be just a beauty pageant. But he knew that it wasn't, and he doesn't think of his daughter in that way and wouldn't in a million years as a father suggest or even intimate that his daughter should get on stage and flash her breasts, ass and (potentially) her external genitalia at a group of strange men for admiration, money or votes.

But what does it say that he would suggest it of his wife? I think it's another piece of gravel in a growing mountain of evidence that John McCain doesn't think a lot about women, their place as equals in society or their rights in that society. But he does seem to think a lot about us as sexual beings — or, at least, sexual objects.

McCain Makes The Rounds At A Biker Rally [CNN]
Obama, in New Stand, Proposes Use of Oil Reserve [NY Times]
Tax Plans And The Single Girl [Glamocracy]
McCain, 2013 and the End of the War on Terror [AC360]
Topless in Sturgis [Politico]
Getting An Eyeful In Biker Heaven [ESPN]
Sexist McCain Moment of the Day [Feministing]
What John McCain's Jokes Say About His View Of Women [Glamocracy]