It seems that Meghan McCain is beefing with Washington Monthly's Steve Benen over this post, which -- in discussing former Vice President Dick Cheney's support for gay marriage -- begins thusly:
It was pretty meaningless to hear Meghan McCain urge her Republican Party to come around on gay marriage. It seemed a bit more important when Steve Schmidt, John McCain's campaign manager, gave the GOP the same advice.
But in terms of influence in Republican politics, Dick Cheney is on another level.
To which McCain responded, via Twitter:
Hey Washington Monthly, so it's only important to speak out for marriage equality if your [sic] an old man?
Now, look. I can understand someone reading that first sentence as a dig. And speaking only for myself, I think that Meghan McCain stands very forthrightly and admirably on the right side of the gay marriage issue. In fact I'm willing to bet that if she could, she'd likely take one look at the tangles of politics and expedience and compromise and chronic half-stepping that have always seemed to prevent people from doing the right thing and just slice that Gordian knot in half without pausing for thought. And that's something that Dick Cheney, despite his beliefs on this subject -- which he's expressed since at least the 2000 Vice-Presidential debate -- has been unwilling or unable to do, beyond voicing his support everytime a reporter asks him about the subject.
That said, her response seems to be the sort of weird petulance that could undermine her strong advocacy. I mean, surely Meghan McCain understands that when Steve Benen says that Dick Cheney's "influence...is on another level," it's because Dick Cheney's influence is -- objectively speaking -- on another level. Furthermore, I hardly think it's accurate to call Steve Schmidt an "old man," and, in terms of influence, I have to believe that Meghan McCain is aware that "Head of day to day operations, McCain/Palin 2008" was higher up the campaign org-chart than "author of McCainBlogette."
