McCain Blogettes

Update: PFAW's Right Wing Watch blog has more on this including back story on Peter LaBarbera, who apparently has a vendetta against the Log Cabin Republicans.
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I know, my blog title sounds like a really bad (as in not good and also offensive) Christian Rock band. Unfortunately, it is also the dead serious subject of an article that hit my inbox via a Google Alert.

Two individuals who were intimately involved with John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign will be addressing an April gathering of homosexual activists in Washington, DC.

Meghan McCain, the 24-year-old daughter of former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, will be among the featured speakers at the annual convention of the Log Cabin Republicans, a homosexual activist group. The title of Meghan McCain's speech is "Winning the Next Generation -- How can the Republican Party attract more young voters."

Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says McCain is taking the wrong message to young voters.

"I'm afraid that some Republicans are going to think, 'Hey, we have to go pro-gay and try to be hip to get the youth vote,'" suggests LaBarbera. "Look, the kind of youth who are going to be the long-term heroes in the Republican Party are going to be the principled youth of today -- and the principled youth don't want us to play around or go half-way on homosexuality, or just fight gay marriage and not anything else."

Actually, articles like this - and the people who believe in them and are active in GOP politics - are the reason that the Republican party is going to continue to struggle with young voters. We've beaten up on Meghan McCain pretty hard here these last few days for her somewhat shallow diagnosis of how Republicans missed the youth train, but kudos to her for delivering this speech and for at least broaching the subject within GOP politics. She's going to have a long, hard slog fighting against dead-enders like the guy who wrote this article.

Craig is taking the weekend off. Here's some Quick Hits for today, and I'll have a post up tomorrow. --Mike

• USA Today reports that young adults health is either static or declining.
• Earlier this week, Sarah blogged about Meghan McCain and the GOP's (lack of) internet strategy. Jason Linkins at Huffington Post picked up the story as well, and he's not buying what Ms. McCain is trying to sell.
• At The Nation, Peter Rothberg previews Power Shift '09.
• It's Getting Hot in Here grades the green energy provisions in the recently passed stimulus package.
• Still trying to make heads or tails of the credit crisis? Check out this amazing video.
• At HuffPo, Jason Pollock (The Youngest Candidate) explains the importance of Shepard Fairey.
• Listen to network information economy guru Yochai Benkler talk about social production in this podcast.
• A new blog is tracking the Young Democrats Presidential election.
• As part of his campaign, YDA Presidential Candidate Chris Anderson has launched Your YDA, a site designed to elicit comments about all aspects of YDA's operations.
• Future Majority friend and Students for Barack Obama cofounder Tobin Van Ostern is making YouTube videos about the campaign. Check out the first one here:

Meghan McCain: "No one knows what war is like other than my family. Period."

Can we please start talking about Biden's son going to Iraq? Does he understand war? Do the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Iraq understand war? Or maybe only the ones who support her family, because every single soldier and veteran votes Republican, right?

What I'm reading today:

• The American Prospect looks at the good and the bad behind Obama's takeover of the DNC.
• A companion piece looks at the 15 most important advisors behind the Obama operation.
• Chris Bowers examines the demographic trends behind Obama's coalition and declares an end to the era of Values Voters and "Bubba Dominance."
• WireTap profiles Tony Peyton, the youngest member of the Pennsylvania House, and how the Center for Progressive Leadership helped shape him into a winning candidate.
• John McCain is trying to steal credit for the new GI Bill, which he actively opposed and obstructed.
• Bondelli explains how you can build your own Sprout Widget.
• The Voto Latino blog pointed me to this GQ profile of Meghan McCain from back in March. It's so vacuous at times that can't decide if it is a terrible profile or sheer genius on the part on the part of the McCain campaign. The girl did go to Columbia. What do you think?
• If, like me, you've been mesmerized by HBO's Generation Kill, you should check out the original Rolling Stone article by Evan Wright.
• Youth are a prime target in the Indiana Governor's race.
• Gawker thinks that MSNBC is trending Democratic and will continue to do so as it rakes in younger viewers.
• The Virginia Pilot notes that 2/3 of the 200,000 newly registered voters in the state are under the age of 35. The paper declares voter registration the new youth movement. I couldn't agree more.

And so it begins. Not even a week after I posted about John McCain's strengths among young voters and the potential of his daughter to be a media-darling/spokesperson, the AP up and publishes a profile of the McCain Blogettes and the youth vote, full of star-struck observations such as this gem:

Meghan decided to blog about the campaign, with help from a couple of friends, after graduating last year from Columbia University.

Her Web site mixes behind-the-scenes photos and videos from the campaign trail with iPod music playlists, designer fashion, even makeup tips.

It can be addictive, says Julie Barko Germany, director of the Institute for Politics and the Internet at George Washington University.

"It feels almost like picking up a copy of Us Weekly — real stars, they're just like us!" Germany said.

Mmmmm......substantive content about the youth vote from our media experts (/snark). I expect many more such articles in the months to come.

Typically, the most interesting part of the article was this bit, buried in the 22nd paragraph:

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.

What do you suppose that means?