Meghan McCain

• Friend of FM Cryn Johannsen reports on what happens when young people who are in debt with student loans get into an accident and can't work... a really really really sad story.
• Something from the League:
  What would the Green Movement look like if Van Jones were still in the White House?

  That's the question we asked of Cornel West, Malia Lazu, Julian Mocine-Mcqueen, Ethan Case and Chuck Creekmur. Check out 99problems.org for their thoughts.

• The incredibly attractive fake Republican Meghan McCain schools the GOP with 7 tips for Presidential Hopefuls
  

  "...Most young voters my age don't remember Newt Gingrich's claim to fame; after all, the Clinton impeachment trial was so ‘90s.
  What the Republican Party needs is a candidate unafraid to put the president up against the wall and call him out on all the damage his administration has done, especially to the economy, in the last three years."

  This post is around the same time McCain appeared on MSNBC and talked about the coolness factor in Presidential candidates. Politico: You are not cooler than Obama.

  Meghan McCain wants the Republican candidates running for president to stop trying to be cool. She hopes they will step away from the comfort of Fox’s Greta Van Susteren and befriend MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. And she thinks Tim Pawlenty is kind of wimpy.
  Along with a willingness to challenge the president, she wants candidates to remember that they are “not cooler than President Obama.” “No, you are not. No, seriously, you are not, not even you, Sarah Palin,” she advised. Instead, she wants a Republican to emerge as the “smart candidate, the serious candidate.”

  Of Palin, McCain wrote, “If she enters the race, there will be a proverbial tsunami of media coverage for months. Don’t panic and ride it out. The cream always rises to the top and at some point she is going to have to do something other than come up with clever sound bites.”

  It wasn't Maddow it was that one dude that isn't Keith Olbermann but here's the video:
  
  

  Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

• 2011 Grads Success not assured
• For Profits deepening debt
• Paying for college without loans. My solution - sell a kidney...
• So this is interesting - when I was pulling the clips last night I came across this article from the West Virginia Metro News: WV takes steps to monitor for-profit schools. The problem is the article is gone and I searched for the headline and couldn't find it. Maybe the for-profits sent people over to break their legs...
• One columnist says that your youth is an indicator that Now's the time to goof off.
  

  "Graduates of 2011, you don't need me to tell you that you are facing an uncertain job market. The economy has been tough, good jobs are scarce, and you likely have heaps of student loan debt. So I get that there might be a temptation to put your job search on hold and continue with your education while deferring your student loans. But (and don't tell my daughter who will be a college freshman in the fall that I am telling you this) let me make one thing perfectly clear:

  Stop going to school!

  Don't go to business school. And don't go to law school. Don't even go to dental school. No, what I want you to do is rule school out. There may be a time to go back to school down the road, in fact, hopefully there will be, but that time is not now.

  And while we are at it, rule out that first big job too. You will have plenty of opportunity - too much opportunity frankly - to work in your life. But not now.

  So, what should you do instead of going to school and getting a job? Let me give you a few ideas:

  For starters, you can goof off."

  I'm all for this ... but I'm sending him my "goof off" bills.

• What to do about young voters who feel abandoned? Good question. I know the numbers are showing the president is losing support among youth and as a result the White House has really stepped up its outreach hoping no one noticed they ditched us when the hard policy was happening (HCR... environmental stuff... etc...). The "hey what about me?!" narcissism of politics and voters.... Is it narcissism when you demand accountability?
  

  "Is there an explanation for such a development? It seems that young people feel the President is no longer focused on them. Other issues have captured his attention including issues related to older people. One young lady summed it up this way: “He made young people feel important, then he got into office and there was no one talking to us.”

• Young Entrepreneurs help fuel economy. Good time to mention Our Time's Buy Young campaign soft launched focusing on businesses that are run by young people that are sustainable and make products from recycled materials. If you sign up you get 30% off or more!
• Ron Paul says young people are tired of the wars
• As many of you know, student financial aid funding is at risk of being cut in high pressure budget negotiations - including eliminating almost 1.5 million students from receiving important grant programs like the Pell Grant. While members of Congress traveling home to their districts this Summer we must hold them accountable by telling them how much student aid means to us.

  Here is a new online action that helps you write a letter to the editor of your newspaper

• Fair Elections news - The latest Voter Suppression Update, provided by FELN and Campus Progress, is available. Some really really good news for Missouri, Maine, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina - but bitter sweat with some sad news about NC and Ohio... so much work to be done to help prevent voter disenfranchisement especially among young voters.

Other ORG news:

• On July 12th the Break The Chain Campaign is hosting the first CARE CONGRESS: the historic public launch of the Caring Across Generations campaign. This is your opportunity to join us at this historic gathering! You can register here.
  

  This year is the first year of the "age wave;" every eight seconds, an American will turn 65. In the coming years, more and more members of our communities will need care, just as more and more workers will need quality, dignified jobs. At a time when we desperately need new jobs, new paths to citizenship, and new solutions to persistent crises in care, a broad coalition of people from all walks of life are coming together to push for change.

  When: July 12 - 9:00 am - 5:00 pm [Meals Included]

  Where: The Washington Hilton - 1919 Connecticut Ave NW

  Who: Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and 700 people who care

Originally posted on Citizen Orange.

Senator George LeMieux (R-FL) is starting to feel the heat of pro-migrant voters, specifically Latino voters. Tonight, Univision will air a debate in which current Florida governor and U.S. Senate nominee Charlie Crist will come out in support of the DREAM Act.  The day before yesterday, Representive Kendrick Meek (D-FL), and also a nominee for U.S. Senate, hand delivered a letter to LeMieux.  This part of Meek's letter says it all:

It is important to note that the State of Florida stands much to gain from the passage of this legislation.  By alowing certain youths an opportunity at a solid education and a pathway to citizenship, we can stop the current cycle of immigrant poverty and break the social caste systems that discourage economic and personal growth.  Passage of the legislation will also help reduce high school dropout rates, boost college attendance and increas the poll of nurses, teachers, highly qualified recruits for the U.S. armed forces, and other high-need areas of our workforce.

Further, Florida has had a standing tradition of bi-partisan support for immigration reform with Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez helping lead the way with their sponsorship of the DREAM Act.  On the House side the legislation enjoys bi-partisan support with eight Florida members currently signed on as co-sponsors.

Kendrick Meek (16 September 2010)

In Arizona, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is also facing significant pressure.  The migrant youth movement in Arizona has been hounding him and converting Republicans wherever he goes.  Currently, undocumented youth who would benefit from the DREAM Act are camped outside of his office until he passes the DREAM Act.  A few days ago, members of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition approached his daughter, Meghan McCain, and got her to state her support for the DREAM Act:

So it goes with the rest of the twelve Republican Senators we need to support the DREAM Act as actions happen across the country. 

Seven Republicans voted for the DREAM Act in 2007: Bob Bennett (R-UT), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Susan Collins (R-ME), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).  If they refuse to vote for the exact same bill in 2010 they will expose themselves as the "party of no" that Democrats have accused them of.  It is bigger than just the 2010 elections, though.  If the Republicans do not vote in favor of getting the DREAM Act passed, now, they will turn off an entire generation of Latino voters. 

If the Democrats are playing politics with the DREAM Act, so be it.  Moderate Republicans should not let politics get in the way of the lives of millions of migrant youth, or the lives of the voters in the communities that undocumented youth are intertwined with, for that matter.  I personally can say that as furious as I've been at Democrats for tearing apart our communities with over a thousand deportations a day, they've got me focused on Republican votes and the upcoming elections, right now, like I've never been before. 

If my senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown (R-MA), votes against the DREAM Act I will work harder than I've ever worked on anything like this before to get him replaced with a pro-migrant Senator in 2012.  As Latino migrant youth leader Carlos Saavedra said in the New York Times "Our people will remember in November.  They will be ready to reward or punish."

In an open letter to the New York Republican Party, Meghan McCain once again invited her chosen party to reconsider its position on gay marriage.

McCain has long been an advocate and ally to the LGBT community, speaking in April at the Log Cabin Republicans Convention.

"Gays and lesbians are a vital part of our communities. They are doctors, teachers, firefighters, emergency personnel and neighbors. In this way, marriage equality is also about supporting good citizens and strengthening our communities. When a committed gay couple seeks to declare their love for one another and get married, the whole community benefits from the added stability and strength of that family. On top of that, we don't give up anything by sharing responsibilities and protections with those whom we love.

That's why I believe in marriage equality."

McCain recalled the 5 Republicans in the NY Assembly that voted for the equality bill and asked that as the vote comes to a full vote before the Senate officials to recall the "Republican values and fairness by passing the marriage bill."

Despite being more aligned with the moderate wing of the GOP, McCain continues to be her party's best hope of going mainstream and connecting with a generation that abhors the "culture wars" and embraces values like equality, choice, and inclusion.

This... is genius... Totally genius. The best part is that the liberal monster doesn't want to kill Megahan McCain because she's smart and nice and not an evil republican because she thinks young people are important. Well that part and the laughing monkey Ann Coulter in the corner.

I posted the video of Meghan McCain's Maddow interview earlier this week and while she's probably an expert on the ways in which the GOP is hemoraging young people because the religious right is scaring people off... here is further evidence that the extremist points of view in a much more modern time are becoming more moderate and mainstream.

A good friend who is a very faithful man sent me a piece he saw on Alternet that talks about Equality Ride a project of Soulforce Q. They have young LGBTQ folks riding around the country on a bus visiting evangelical colleges in the south to bring a public face to issues often opposed by that community and "to cut off homophobia at its source -- religious bigotry."

"Soulforce recognized that encouraging young people to engage in conversation with their peers who hold conservative views about homosexuality could be transformative for both sides."

"The Equality Ride targeted students whose identities as Christian are central to their lives. Such students' choice of attending a Christian school probably helps them resist some of the social pressures of modern life. A loving confrontation by fellow young people with contrasting views on homosexuality was designed to challenge orthodoxy and certainty."

Its a little like an intervention - we're doing this because we love you and we don't want you to live like this anymore... The light at the end of the tunnel is that young evangelicals still might be conservative but

"At the same time they are more inclined than their parents to support social justice efforts such as environmental stewardship, anti-poverty programs, or HIV/AIDS treatment. While they mostly believe that homosexuality is a sin, at least some of them support employment and housing rights for LGBTQ people."

Its a good start.

The piece goes on to say that out of the 4,000 colleges and universities in the US about 400 are Christian schools that identify as evangelical Protestant.

"Students attending these colleges enter environments where conservative Christian values are celebrated, and often codified. Most of these schools
explicitly prohibit drinking, smoking, sexual activity, and homosexuality, and some require students and staff to sign faith statements."

My friend told me that Barry Goldwater once said about campaigning "you go hunting where the ducks are." He said he thinks young evangelicals in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas are areas prime with game if we want to reach folks. He believes some of the younger believers would be very open to the progressive, environmental stewardship for example not to mention a social justice message.

He's right. The article says that for evangelicals that know at least one LGBT person

"this issue [a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage] became greatly troubling. The vast majority of conservative Christians strongly believe that marriage should be restricted to between a man and a woman, but they also value human rights and don't think that the government should treat anyone unfairly."

Hope and change.... hope and change...

If you didn't see it last night - Meghan McCain was on Rachel Maddow talking about the ways in which the GOP is not getting it, not reaching out to young people, and how the conservative wing isn't the way to win people over. Apparently Ann Coulter isn't happy with what Meghan is saying and has said a few things ... we expect this from Ann - I'm a fan of moderates because the more Ann pushes the GOP to the right the more moderates vote for progressive candidates.

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.

Bloguette Meghan McCain had an interesting article in the Daily Beast yesterday that addresses the techless nature of the GOP.

During the campaign season the only youth outreach I could find coming out of the McCain campaign was Meghan and her friends that traveled with the campaign and reported on the goings on.

Since this seems to be the week of children of the GOP coming out to tell all it is fitting Meghan wanted to talk about her experience as well. She says that the whole idea of the blog and project about being on the trail "was met with confusion and resistance" to begin with. "A few people even asked me what's a blog."

For the record, what you're reading right now.... is a blog.

She also said that she got the idea that people thought she was wasting her time, "The Republican party isn't exactly Internet savvy," she says.

I would argue that there are many people in the GOP that are very tech savvy. The College Republicans developed a nice little social network site that no one really uses, if you're a frequent reader of FM you know we know all about that site. And there are a hand full of remarkable tech savvy guys (sadly they're all men) who do some good work for a party that has little to no support for them. Meghan's lament isn't an isolated one.

"Unless the GOP evolves as the party that can successfully utilize the Web, we'll continue to lose influence. I think nothing confirms this fact to be more true than this recent election. I don’t claim to be an expert on mobilizing voters, but a significant number of the readers on mccainblogette.com, my blog, were between the ages of 18 and 30, a key demographic that either party would want. Many of the established Republican strategists told me that young people would not visit my web site."

So, Meghan started calling around asking people about the kind of outreach that happened online from the GOP to see what people's opinions were. Her findings?

"Instead, they told me that not having enough money was a huge factor in our loss—not our misuse of the Internet. Others were just plain angry, blaming the liberal media, and not the party's shortcomings online. Of course, there is truth in some of this. But denial only amplifies the stereotypes about Republicans being disconnected."

I live in the heartland, Meghan... I feel you're pain. No one here really gets the internet either. They think we're liberal because we blog - gotta love it! Her friend Rob Kubasko who helped develop mccainblogette.com tells her that it isn't the technology so much as having a message driven system that I guess includes the technology. He goes on to say that people want to be on Twitter because its cool but their tweets are lame making them part of the disconnect not the solution.

Another friend Becky Donatelli says that more and more people are getting their news from the Daily Show and SNL and spending the day on their Blackberry and laptops. She says that old school political operatives are aggravated by this (I agree but don't isolate it to the GOP) but it makes you wonder if these operatives are just choosing not to evolve simply because they don't like what the alternative is: Uncontrolled renegades unbridled by strategy and message campaigns wildly submitting whatever their thoughts online for the world to see.

Sounds like a party!

Meghan says "Until the Republican party joins the twenty-first century and learns how to use the Internet, its members will keep getting older and the youth of America will just keep logging on to the other side."

I would argue that technology is a big part of this because its where we spend our time, but I think having a message, political philosophy, and strong outreach in person as well as online is key to capturing the youth of America. That was the problem with STORM - its not enough to know that youth are on SN's its about knowing them well enough to understand where they are

Go right now and read this profile in Slate of Meghan McCain.

A few weeks back I posted about an old GQ profile of Meghan that portrayed her as nothing less than a ditz with a famous dad. I wondered at the time whether the reporter played Meghan to get her to open-up for a sleazy hit-piece, or McCain played the reporter in a brilliant move to brand herself. Well, the slate piece thinks its the latter, and dissects the brand that Meghan McCain has built bit by bit, blog post by blog post. Whether you are a blogger out to build a brand, or an organization looking to manage your image in the media, it's really worth a read.

Here's a bit about Meghan doing her own rapid response to her gaffe about veterans on The View:

Responding to a question about Barack Obama saying her father "doesn't get it," she rambled her way through talking points into a disastrous sound bite: "No one knows what war is like other than my family. Period."

The misstep was, of course, perfect fodder for the lefty blogosphere. But the real danger to the campaign was that voters on the right might construe Meghan's remark as evidence that the McCain campaign doesn't value the contributions of average soldiers nearly enough. And so Meghan quickly went to her own blog and clarified her statement. Next, she uploaded a YouTube video of an amputee veteran saying that Obama's stance on the Iraq war disrespects the sacrifice that soldiers have made, and that McCain understands all that they've given for their country and for the Iraqi people. The video says what Meghan should have said in that interview, and it's visually arresting and has a soundtrack. In all, it was a wisely calculated response—and a far more typically shrewd Meghan McCain move than the earlier gaffe.

And here's a few graphs that get to the meat of the piece:

If some of the snippets seem to signal ditz, the big picture is a smartly composed one. Meghan is an Ivy League grad who interned at Newsweek and Saturday Night Live, and she has constructed an image that jibes precisely with one expectation of 23-year-old women. She's often compared somewhat unfavorably with 28-year-old Chelsea Clinton, who has in spades the gravitas that Meghan seems to lack. The two are on opposite ends of a mini-generation gap. 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. 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. She calls her blog a Blogette. She writes a book that's aimed at no one who's old enough to vote.

And her confessional style is one whose most devoted practitioners may be middle-school girls with MySpace and Blogger accounts. Meghan tells People about what it was like for her when her mom was addicted to pills, or Meredith Viera that her dad dated a stripper, or confesses that she's gained weight on the trail. People will point these things out anyway, so why not pre-empt them, and in the process, make them feel at ease? As we've seen recently with the Palin family, there's a strong appetite for "Political Stars, They're Just Like Us!"

It's not a substitute for real outreach to youth, but as a piece of communications work, it's brilliant. Meghan McCain is creating a space where she is both hiding her own political views (and likely political acumen) to create a persona that appeals to everyday young girls/women with whom her father's campaign likely has trouble. Now I just wonder what her traffic is like.