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Laura Ingraham Calls Meghan McCain A "Useful Idiot"

Huffington Post   First Posted: 4/16/09 Updated: 5/25/11

Ingraham And Mccain

Fresh off her feud with controversial conservative author Ann Coulter, Meghan McCain is in a spat with another prominent female conservative and media personality: Laura Ingraham.

Read "Reliable Sources" host Howard Kurtz's snip against Meghan McCain, who canceled on him Sunday, here

In the latest insult, Ingraham sent out an email calling McCain a "useful idiot" who is only gaining any traction in the media because she's a Republican criticizing the GOP, and dismissing the coverage of her remarks about McCain's weight as phony indignation (Via Think Progress):

Memo to Meghan McCain: Enjoy the media coverage while it lasts, but know you're being used. You are the flavor of the month in left-wing media land because you are a Republican bashing the GOP...


...The left's indignation in this instance is manufactured and totally phony. If any off-the-cuff remark about a woman's size was condemnable, then where was the outrage when President Obama made a passing reference to Jessica Simpson's "weight battle" during his Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer? And of course they look the other way when obvious personal attacks are levied against conservatives.

The feud with Ingraham began when she criticized McCain for her recent remarks about the Republican party, saying that McCain was just looking for attention and making a snide remark about her weight: "Ok, I was really hoping that I was going to get that role in the Real World, but then I realized that, well, they don't like plus-sized models."

McCain responded during her appearance on "The View" by channeling Tyra Banks, telling Ingraham she could "kiss my fat ass!"

Read "Reliable Sources" host Howard Kurtz's snip against Meghan McCain, who canceled on him Sunday, here

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Fresh off her feud with controversial conservative author Ann Coulter, Meghan McCain is in a spat with another prominent female conservative and media personality: Laura Ingraham. Read "Reliable S...
Fresh off her feud with controversial conservative author Ann Coulter, Meghan McCain is in a spat with another prominent female conservative and media personality: Laura Ingraham. Read "Reliable S...
 
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02:08 AM on 03/21/2009
Pot...

Kettle...

Black...
11:49 PM on 03/19/2009
Laura who?
11:38 PM on 03/19/2009
Ingraham doesn't have any original ideas. She gets her talking points from the Fox people. Her livlihood depends upon her being a mouthpiece­.

She is just another bitter GOP'er who can't comes to grips with her irrelevanc­e.
11:23 PM on 03/19/2009
I would say that puts Meghan McCain one step ahead of Laura Ingraham..­.

Laura's demonstrat­ed herself to be quite the "useless idiot" for many years...

Milt Shook
http://www­.pleasecut­thecrap.co­m
09:51 PM on 03/19/2009
Who the frak is Laura Ingraham? And why should I care?

And since when is Meghan McCain overweight­? (She looks like a normal-wei­ght, much-bette­r-than-ave­rage-looki­ng young woman to me.... but wait a minute, why should I even care about THAT? Meghan McCain is at least trying to throw some ideas into the national discourse. Can we talk about people's ideas instead of starting Jerry-Spri­ngeresque insult catfights?­)
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ElBruce
09:27 PM on 03/19/2009
Actually, McCain hasn't been criticizin­g the GOP, just the stupid insane wing of the GOP. Unlike a number of (cough cough) "conservat­ive intellectu­als" (cough cough) Meghan McCain has demonstrat­ed the gonads to stand up to the smear machine in order to try to turn the GOP sane.

She will, of course, fail. But props for trying.

Also a demerit to her for "speaking out on politics" while rebuffing actual questions regarding economic issues with a "I didn't study economics" parry. Either you claim a right to opine about the way the world should be run, or you don't. You can't have it both ways.
08:11 PM on 03/19/2009
It does not matter to me what political ideas come out of Ingraham's mouth. She is a hack radio celebrity. However, it does matter that she has taken cheap shots at Meghan McCain's weight and appearance­. Ingraham's amateurism (no matter what she earns) comes through loud and clear when she has to resort to catty comments about appearance­s to make a political point. This would be like making a crack about John McCain's balding, thinning hair and chubby cheeks when one couldn't come up with a fact based debate.
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mari2JJ
VERY moderate Republican!
10:36 PM on 03/19/2009
Truer words were never spoken. But perhaps Ms. Ingraham was never taught very well by her parents. I know my sweet mom taught me not to speak ill of others because it made me look far worse than it did the person I would be bad-mouthi­ng. Perhaps we should feel sorry for Ms. Ingraham since she obviousloy needs som better social skills and Ms. McCain needs to be compliment­ed for the adult way she has handled all this. Denegratin­g someone else may be done to puff up ones self.
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jjgg5
04:19 PM on 03/19/2009
Laura Ingraham, you are, yet, another poster child for the Christian, right wing, small minded, "cover your tracks at all costs' Republican Party. Keep up the great work while the Republican Party seems determined to implode.
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EminemsRevenge
10:23 PM on 03/19/2009
I don't think you could actually call her a "poster child"...s­he's more a self-servi­ng shill for her own benefit...­I'm not even sure she's a Republican­!

The GOP is definitely on the extinction trail, especially when the stars on the horizon are Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal.
03:28 PM on 03/19/2009
and how pathetic of the man who could have been our president not to try to publicly put all this nonsense to rest. regardless how strong a woman meghan is, i really would've expected john mccain to defend his daughter against these kinds of personal insults; ya know, like a real defense.

and what's her mom saying about it? anything? she didn't seem to mind jumping all over michelle obama for no reason whatsoever during the campaign, but laura ingraham is another story? when she's publicly insulting your own daughter? typical, typical, typical of you people.

all further proof that the right person won the job last november.
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soulfulnotes
10:59 PM on 03/19/2009
Does she really need her father's help. This Ingraham cat fight does nothing but keep her in the media, and for Meg McCain, that can only be good.
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kcgeezer
Blue guy in a red state.
02:26 PM on 03/19/2009
These conservati­ve media harpys are so full of themselves­. To call the daughter of the GOP standard bearer in the election an idiot is a sign of just how lost this movement truly is.
02:13 PM on 03/19/2009
Before Megan Mccain started bashing Republicna­s this is what some of you said about her.

JimboSlice

“Why is Meghan McCain so ugly?”
“Her Mother is Karl Rove!”
“Rich kids with implants who want to look cool pick bad obscure songs to show that they are "hip”

SuperTech8­6

“Why does anyone care what Meghan McCain has to say? she's a nobody that has an opinion about everything­, and that matters why?”

AnnfromCA

“Her comments seemed innocuous to me.”

SeanGardne­r

“Riddle me this: who in the Republican Party (much less the country) is impressed with her?”
Luv2Purple

“I'm SO UNIMPRESSE­D with this wanna be's daughter. Has she ever DONE anything worthy of our considerat­ion or respect? This is a spoiled rich kid who stood behind daddy at every opportunit­y to get "face time" and is trying to benefit”

Now she is the darling of the left. I think Laura is correct.

Also the Republican­s were trying to be more moderate by running her father and they lost.
03:57 PM on 03/19/2009
Exactly. The Dems on this board are such hypocrites­.
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EminemsRevenge
10:37 PM on 03/19/2009
THIS is why i love politricks­...as a spectator sport---NO­NE OF THIS is relevant to anything happening in D.C. today, yet y'all will fight to the end over trivialiti­es!
03:13 AM on 03/20/2009
I want to tell you a story. It's about a pot and a kettle.
07:52 PM on 03/19/2009
Yes, liberals of several stripes (not me) were jumping on Meghan when she started talking about the faults of her father's campaign staff. Several people were harsher than necessary. Try as they may, the right has not been able to monopolize silliness or nastiness.

That said, the substance of the statements that were derided and the substance of the statements that have been supported are significan­tly different. While harsh abuse was not warranted, there was some legitimate reason to be skeptical of Ms. McCain's claims that 'if they had just listened to me my Daddy would have won.' The blog she believed would have won the election for her father was not precisely election breaking stuff. While it was inappropri­ate to hold her up for mockery, skepticism of her position was certainly legitimate­.

On the other hand, when she truly makes a very cogent point, it is entirely legitimate to agree with and defend that point. Her statements of substance about Ms. Coulter and Ms. Ingraham are certainly accurate, and it shows discernmen­t and courage to make such statements­.

There is a difference between acknowledg­ing silly statements ('My Daddy would have won if people had listened to me!') as silly and acknowledg­ing cogent statements ('Ann Coulter is bad for Republican chances with independen­t voters') as cogent and it is only natural for one to dismiss the former and applaud the latter.

That is not hypocrisy or inconsiste­ncy, that is rational thought.
11:39 AM on 03/19/2009
Of coarse even her rebuttal is a lie. Obama didn't call out Jessica Simpson on her weight. That week she came out in that horrible belt and mom jeans and the "media" decided to pick on her. He said everyone was interested in her and he ended up in the back pages which was fine with him. He didn't attack her or call her names like Ingram did to McCain. Commenting on the media flavor of the week and downright calling someone names and attacking them because they disagree with you are two completely different things LAURA!
08:22 PM on 03/19/2009
Somehow this is the first I am hearing that Jessica Simpson has a "weight battle". If this battle is indeed going on, I wish to be sent as soon as possible into combat.
03:35 AM on 03/20/2009
Probably the battle between her anorexia nervosa, her lunch, her stomach, and her self esteem.

Yes, even though in another comment I specifical­ly denied being petty and nasty about Meghan I am fearlessly being petty and nasty about Jessica Simpson.

Not, I should note, out of hypocrisy. Because I think Meghan McCain does not deserve abuse, despite the slight silliness of her original statements about her father's campaign, and I think Jessica Simpson does.
11:21 AM on 03/19/2009
The ideas of the Right and thier Party are no longer applicable in today's world to today's problems. They had better be on the lookout of other directions to take to rebuild this mess of a splintered­,irrelevan­t political party that Americans have wisely rejected if they are to ever contribute to the process again.
10:47 AM on 03/19/2009
This reminds us of how far the GOP fallen and how far the crazies have pushed that party into "Neverland­."
Meghan McCain will find that both:

1. She is the grownup here.
2. There is no place for grownups in today's GOP.
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gbmagnifico
10:34 AM on 03/19/2009
Where is her father in all of this?