today in the New Ledger. Truthfully, I am not sure the word shreds paints a full enough picture of the literary disembowelment Wolf delivers to the petulant daughter of Senator John McCain. Here is a sample:It is impossible to read Dirty, Sexy Politics and come away with the impression that you have read anything other than the completely unedited ramblings of an idiot. This being a professional website for which I have a great deal of respect, I searched for a more eloquent or gentle way to accurately phrase the previous sentence – but could not find one.Needless to say, Wolf finds nothing worthwhile contained therein. Nothing. The best Wolf is able to manage to say on behalf of the book is that Meghan McCain successfully painted a sympathetic portrait of her father in the days following his defeat to Barack Obama. Wolf does this out of obligation, finding it incumbent upon the book reviewer to find at least one positive thing to say about the subject of his scathing review:
It is important to know that I was repeatedly tempted just to put the book down, eat the relatively small price I paid to download it to my Kindle, and silently curse Hyperion for publishing this book. After all, they are the ones taking advantage of this particular idiot’s fifteen minutes of fame by exposing her idiocy for the entire world to see. By all appearances, they didn’t even have the decency to hire someone to edit the book – more on that later.
In the final analysis, however, I determined that most of Meghan’s flaws – such as her unbearable narcissism, delusions of persecution, anti-religious bigotry, and mendacity – couldn’t be chalked up to her manifestly below-average intelligence. These are blameworthy traits born of a malfunctioning moral compass, and they are laid bare in spades on every page of Dirty, Sexy Politics. Furthermore, it is important to address them because Meghan McCain’s book is an active attempt to split the Republican Party in two and thereby destroy its ability to win elections. And even though she is an idiot, she is a useful idiot in the hands of the media and other assorted Democrats, who also want to achieve this goal.
Therefore, let us thoroughly evaluate this book on the merits, and see whether anything worthwhile is contained therein.
I suppose that it is incumbent on me as a book reviewer to mention one positive thing about the book that I liked. The section where McCain describes the days after her father’s crushing defeat on election day were just as poorly written and rambling as the rest of the book, but they were definitely touching and successfully painted her father in a very sympathetic light. As she described the way that Senator McCain achieved catharsis by grilling ribs day after day and healing his wounds surrounded by his family, you get the sense that whatever their flaws, the McCain family does love one another and stick together. So that is something.Yes that is something I suppose. Wolf accurately describes Meghan McCain as a "useful idiot" in the hands of the media and Democrats intent on destroying Republican chances to win elections. Those who have followed her inexplicable prominence in the days since her father lost the election have lamented this fact repeatedly. Wolf wisely points to the reason McCain's book was doomed to disaster: "The sad truth is that Meghan McCain is never going to write a book that imparts a basic level of understanding about any topic until she reaches a basic level of understanding about herself."
As sure as the sun will rise, Meggie Mac will chastise Mr. Wolf and the conservative movement he represents for raining on her media moment with this scathing review. She will surely blame anyone but herself and the liberals who use her as an idiot pawn in their game. To do anything different would require the basic level of understanding required for her to write a thoughtful book to begin with. Should Ms. McCain reach that level of maturity and insight, I will gladly buy a book that reflects such development. In the mean time I am not holding my breath.
More on Memeorandum
The brutal truth about Meghan McCain's book
Hey, has anyone else noticed that Meghan McCain is intensely stupid?
Epic beatdown of Meghan McCain:
I love the title of this post. Just perfect. Meghan McCain is an idiot. Most young adults have their brain death moments but this woman is relentlessly stupid. I used to feel sad for her because her parents apparently don't care enough about her to help her find her way in their world. But now that she has made it her mission to destroy the Republican Party and co-opt it into the Progressive movement - like she even understands what that means - reviews like these cannot be blunt enough as far as I am concerned. I point her out to my kids on how NOT to be when they grow up.
ReplyDeleteBride,
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased you love the title, that absolutely makes my day coming from someone whose writing I genuinely admire. There was part of me that almost felt sorry for her when reading this review but then common sense took over. As you rightly suggest reviews like this are exactly what the doctor ordered for Ms. McCain. Sadly, I don' think it will sink in. She has inoculated herself to criticism from the right. As my father used to say, "she didn't lick that off the grass."