Jason Linkins

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Jason Linkins

The Huffington Post

Meghan McCain Mystery: Who Is Paying For Blogger Daughter\'s Travel?

Meghan McCain Mystery: Who Is Paying For Blogger Daughter's Travel?

March 27, 2008 03:53 PM


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Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain and blogger/proprietress of McCainBlogette, has garnered a lot of recent attention after being profiled in April's GQ Magazine. Her blog, a free-wheeling and often lighthearted affair, documents her travels with her father as he campaigns across the country for the presidency. The recent Columbia grad does a fine job - her posts capture the human side of the campaign and the candidate, and its voice is winningly authentic and seemingly free from the clutches of consultant types. But it is an organ that serves the campaign, so it raises a question that deserves greater scrutiny: who pays for it?

An AP article, comparing McCain Blogette to a similar blog authored for the Romney campaign by Mitt Romney's sons, seems only briefly curious:

Unlike the Romney blog, "McCain Blogette" is independent from the campaign. So independent, the campaign said it could not answer who pays for Meghan and her two friends to travel on campaign planes and buses. A spokeswoman for Meghan did not respond to inquiries.

I suppose one could accept this hair-splitting premise that McCain Blogette is "independent" from the campaign, but are we to believe that the campaign - which includes, we remind you, her own father - truly has no idea how Meghan McCain is supporting the enterprise and her travel accomodations?


 
 

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"...raises a question that deserves greater scrutiny: who pays for it?" No way. What a stupid and lame waste of time. This article was just something to say when you have nothing on and little in your mind.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:32 AM on 03/31/2008

This refusal to disclose is exactly the sort of answer we have been getting from the Bush administration

They can not talk about Plame affair because it is under litigation, they can't find emails beacuse it will take too long, their people can't testify because it is violates executive privilege. Most of the FOI requests to this administration have not been resolved.

Looks like with McCain, we will be getting more of the same - a secretive government afraid of exposing its dark deeds for public scrutiny.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:34 AM on 03/29/2008

Where is Bridget McCain?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:29 PM on 03/28/2008

Simply ask McCain to answer the question about the financing of his daughter's campaign trips.

FIRST , WAKE HIM UP! : - /

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:20 AM on 03/28/2008

all this cyber-harssment over because of her last name...action speak louder then names

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:02 AM on 03/28/2008

She is another spoiled, rich, blond, bimbo with no clue whats happening in the real world. She is no better than Paris Hilton.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:10 AM on 03/28/2008

Right... Because you know her so well??

What a stupid comment. How bout someone who's never met you say that about you or someone in your family...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:16 AM on 03/28/2008

Spot on analysis.......why is America so fascinated with these pampered idiots?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:02 AM on 03/28/2008

Like what I read on this blog site?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:01 AM on 03/28/2008

Jason, do some research. McCain's family is worth millions. I think they can afford to send their kid around the country.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:07 AM on 03/28/2008

leave it to liberals to bash kids. CANDIDATES KIDS ARE OFF LIMITS. PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:40 AM on 03/28/2008

Not when the kids are legally adults and acting as advocates/lobbyists for the family's political ambitions. This applies to Chelsea as well as Meghan and the Romney boys.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:01 PM on 03/30/2008

23 is not a kid. She graduated college and has her own apartment. I hardly think this is the same as the Clintons underage child, or even the same as bush's daughters in the first election. If the children find time to support their parents candidacy in an "INDEPENDENT" manner, then they are putting themselves out there for criticism.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:33 PM on 03/29/2008

Actually, it's typically Republicans who insult the minor children of their opponents, not liberals, as you claim.

Also, screaming out orders in all-caps doesn't make them any more valid. Short of slander, libel or violent threat, adult children who campaign for their parents are as open to scrutiny as any other campaign surrogate.

Thanks for listening, my Republican friend.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:24 AM on 03/29/2008

I think if the "kids" are adults and are campaigning around the country, giving speeches, etc, they should be treated like any other campaign surrogates. Q&A, interviews, etc should not be off limits. Chelsea can't have it both ways. And I don't think Meghan McCain is really acting like a surrogate - it looks like she is just goofing around with her friends.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:48 AM on 03/28/2008

Where was this sentiment when the Bush and Rove were smearing McCain's kid?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:47 AM on 03/28/2008

To clarify:

I think Chelsea is great and respect her and feel bad for what she must have dealt with in her family. I don't know much about Meghan McCain, but if she's a Columbia Grad she obviously didn't just roll of the turnip truck (Congrats).

BUT . . As for Chelsea I wish that she would have stayed out of the campaign, and if she had to support her mother either do it in a soft sell way by talking about her personal view of her mom etc. But when she start hitting hard on policy issues etc. she joins the process.

Bill Clinton himself said that if you don't want to get tackled or even possibly clipped you should never have put on the pads in the first place. That's politics. SORRY!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:17 AM on 03/28/2008

I honestly don't know how Chelsea can respect her father or mother. When a father cheats on his wife, he cheats on his family. When a wife stands by her man after her husband has had one or numerous affairs, that sets a horrible example for a daughter or son. When my husband cheated on me, I headed straight to the divorce lawyer. I could not set the example to my 3 daughters that is OK to cheat on a wife & daughters. I didn't want my daughters to grow up & think it's OK for their husbands to cheat on them or for them to cheat on their husbands. We've been divorced for over 10 years, 2 have grown up & married wonderful, honest, loyal men. My youngest is a high school senior. They all have told me many times how much they respect my decision. Even though I loved him very much, the decision was right. We never had it easy financially & I had to work 2 jobs for several of those years, it was well worth it. Not only do they respect me, I respect myself more also.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:48 AM on 03/28/2008

Then tell the kids to stay at home while the grownups take care of things. Can't take the heat get the out of the kitchen.

You don't see the Obama girls being pimped out for votes.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:09 AM on 03/28/2008

did the campaign pay for her fake boobs too?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:31 AM on 03/28/2008

Don't be a hater of fake boobs.
My theory is: If I can touch them, they're real.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:03 PM on 03/30/2008

Classy

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:43 AM on 03/29/2008

Do you have first hand knowledge that they are, in fact, fake?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:51 AM on 03/28/2008

Leave the kid alone. This type of petty inquiry just dillutes the rational for more serious inquiries. No kid bashing period.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:26 AM on 03/28/2008

.

Eliot Spitzer?

Damn, I think someone beat me to that joke...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:56 PM on 03/27/2008

Actually it is a valid question as people read her blog and if she is a paid member of the McBush campaign then it should be stated. If she is acting as a sort of "independent" 527, then she should state as much.

No matter what, the fact that she is traveling with her father and blogging for her father does bring up serious questions about who is paying her to write.

As for the question about McBush and his mental abilities I am absolutely convinced John is starting to show the early onset stage of ALZ. His faltering memory, his inabiliy to read from a teleprompter without getting confused easily, and his completely non-existent, AFTER TWENTY PLUS YEARS IN THE CONGRESS, knowledge of America and all of it's internal problems, but claims that Iraq is a rousing success.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:58 PM on 03/27/2008

McCan't is a habitual liar--a panderer of any vote he can get and a man who will be your president if obama runs!!!!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:38 PM on 03/27/2008

Jason...
I think you have a bit to much time on your bogging hands these days. Let's try focusing our attention on McCain's non-existent knowledge on the economy, and foreign affairs (his "specialty"), or something other like McCain's non-existent knowledge about morals, and ethics regarding his flip flop on torture, tax breaks for the wealthy, ........and just about everything he ever utters from his moronic lips just to name a few.

Thanks,

T.S.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:00 PM on 03/27/2008

"et's try focusing our attention on McCain's non-existent knowledge on the economy, and foreign affairs (his "specialty"), or something other like McCain's non-existent knowledge about morals, and ethics regarding his flip flop on torture, tax breaks for the wealthy, ........and just about everything he ever utters from his moronic lips just to name a few."

What's to go after? Sounds like Republican Presidential qualifications to me. Explains Bush 2, Bush 1, Ronnie, and Gerry -- only tricky Dick had some knowledge, but he was morally and ethically vacuous.

So there you go.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:50 AM on 03/28/2008

I agree with TheShadow, Jason. The McCain family has plenty of money, via McCain's wife's inherited role in big beer distributorship, to easily finance Meghan's life and travels for a while. She may even have her own assets to live on. I wonder who's paying for all of Chelsea's travels these days? Is she still paid as a hedge fund manager? There are huge things to be investigating about McCain's candidacy, as TheShadow suggests.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:31 AM on 03/28/2008

Naw. Let's go after the kid.

Easier target, low-hanging fruit, etc.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:38 PM on 03/27/2008

Actually Daddy is the easier target, when we wake him up from his nap......

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:05 PM on 03/30/2008

you think she's an easier target than mr magoo who told us such wonderful, factually wrong baghdad stories just a few days before the surge got blown away? wrong again! throwing out this story now is so counterproductive for dems that it's obviously an attempt to distract from magoo's odd non sequiturs lieberman corrected all the time- his insipid reassurances a day before a major offensive magoo as usual had no clue about. the virtually rumsfeldian wrongness of mr magoo should be the story- not miss magoo blogger.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:14 AM on 03/28/2008

There is something I don't quite understand. I see only one comment, not 7.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:21 PM on 03/27/2008

Call me crazy but I'd totally get with this cutie.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:07 PM on 03/27/2008

she looks hotter than chelesa

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:38 PM on 03/27/2008

Her grandparents are loaded, and so is her mother. Maybe she has an inheritance that she is wasting.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:31 PM on 03/27/2008

Who cares?!?!?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:14 PM on 03/27/2008

Amen! This is like totally silly. Like.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:57 AM on 03/28/2008

When the daughters, brothers, uncles, fathers and mothers of contenders to public office make an appearance on behalf of the candidate, I recall the wise words of Mr. Schuster on MSNBC and feel so grateful for his insight in why a politician IMPOSES his off spring, in this case, upon the unsuspecting world... as uif he or she alone are not enough.

Paid or unpaid, I do not need someone disturbing to me the pageant. I am interested in the issues. I don't want to see the crowds, I want to see the arguments. A fair expectation, I think.

NC
PS. It is with despair that I hear that Ms. Chelsea Clinton was repeating, herself, the lies her mother was making about her 'heroic efforts' in Bosnia... Calling Mr. Schuster... Mr. Schuster, rescue us please.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:07 PM on 03/27/2008

Let it go - we can easily beat McStupid on the issues. Lets not lower ourselves to this kind of thing.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:09 PM on 03/27/2008

I don't know, but she looks hot.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:47 PM on 03/27/2008

possibly a lobbyist?

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