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The highly anticipated and much talked about book, Dirty Sexy Politics by Meghan McCain, the daughter of former Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain (R-AZ), has finally arrived. I was able to pick it up just a few days after its release and I am sorry It has taken me this long to write the review, but well I have had more pressing issues as of late, most notable helping Republicans take back America. Anyway, this book is written in a fun, yet emotional style that enthusiastically covers many of the biggest issues in the 2008 election, including: Sarah Palin (R-AK), the use of social media in a presidential election, and the state current state of Republican politics. Let's dive into the crazy, hectic world of this boisterous and funny 'daughter of', and relive one of the most historic elections our country has ever had.
The White Elephant in the Room
Soon after the release of the book, author Megan McCain wrote a column for the website The Daily Beast, for which she is a regular contributor, criticizing the medias focusing on her relationship with Sarah Palin as the main focal point of her book. She lambasted the media for ignoring the whole story and ignoring her and her father (which she also claims the media did during the election). However, it is hard not to have Sarah Palin's brought up when fielding questions about the book because the book actually opens with a chapter describing her feelings after finding out who her father's running mate would be. In fact, the very first sentence of the book contains her name in it. I found this to be relatively idiotic because it almost seems like she was asking for this fight. My point is simply this, if she didn't want Sarah to steal the show, the she shouldn't have written about her as much as she did.
In turn, the media spun the story that Meghan McCain and Sarah Palin were constantly on edge and never really got along. However, throughout the entire book McCain almost never criticizes her, instead she actually seems to affirm a lot of what Mrs. Palin previously wrote about Steve Schmidt, the McCain campaign director, in her own book. McCain at one point relates that she had major issues with Steve and wasn't able to tell her parents because she wasn't sure how to approach the idea and blatantly states that she is sure Sarah Palin felt the same way.
Another interesting tid bit that comes to attention when discussing the Sarah Palin portion of the book is that it highlights the whiny, at times almost cringingly so, attitude with which Meghan McCain writes the book. Throughout the book she continuously relates how she feels sidelined by Sarah and her family and at one point says that the Palin kids seemed too perfect and that they couldn't even share a dressing room. She whines about doing her own hair and makeup and the reader gets the feeling that she may actually be this vain in real life.
However, the book definitely has many positives notes that must not be ignored. By chronologically following the course of the creation of and then power of her blog, the McCainBlogette.com, highlights an important step into using social media networks to reach more portions of the voting block. She constantly talks about how the Obama Team effectively uses Facebook and his campaign website to get donations and more media attention and how she always felt like her dad's campaign never put as much emphasis on this important medium.
Since then, her father, John McCain, has been labeled a media genius because he has launched a full out media blitz with his Facebook and Twitter pages. The Daily Beast and CNN both found that he had the highest online presence of any sitting U.S. Senator. It also seems that McCain is just the tip of the sword as Republicans have thrown themselves head first into the online world and have garnered a huge online audience because of it. In this case it would seem that Meghan McCain is the fairy godmother of the current style of Republican online campaigning.
Perhaps her most biting critiques, and also the ones I most agree with, are saved for the Republican party as a whole. She criticizes them for not being true to any of their core principles and for attempting to kill the party by cutting out people who aren't part of the country club group. An avid gay rights supporter, she points out that a group can't be a bug tent party and win elections if they keep kicking moderates and more socially progressive members out of the party. I couldn't agree more. Her best line of the entire book comes nearly at the end but it truly sums up her main idea about the idiocy of the Republican Party. Referring to the Republicans, she writes: "It is bad enough to find yourself put into a box by your opposition. But when a political party starts putting itself in a box, it is not a box. It is a coffin." In otherwords, the Republicans need to wake up and rebuild their coalition and become more accepting of differences or else be doomed to irrelevance for ever more.
The Review
The memoir Dirty Sexy Politics by Meghan McCain hit shelves on August 31st, 2010 and highlights important fractures within the Republican Party that must be addressed. She discusses the power and importance of Sarah Palin in the 2008 election and explicitly states that it is not Sarah Palin's fault her father lost. She also delves into the inner turmoil of the Republican Party and lays out a platform by which they could once again reclaim big tent status and attract a much younger following. The book is written in an extremely humorous style that seems to match the wit and talent of its young author. The In Review ranking for this under 200 page memoir is a three out of 5 stars. The writing, subject matter, and even length of the book are spot on but I believe that sheer amount of whining and complaining, which permeates the entire book, heavily detracts from its overall effectiveness. Still this is a very good and quick read and I encourage everyone to pick it up at your local bookstore.
Later,
Cody
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