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Call Her Miss Straight Talk

March 18, 2008 4:25 PM

ABC News' Ed O'Keefe Reports: Apparently 'straight talk' runs in the family.

Meghan McCain, 23-year-old daughter of presumptive 2008 Republican nominee Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., chats with GQ about politics, dates, and celebrity burlesque strippers. You know, just your standard political fare.

In an article entitled "Raising McCain", Greg Veis quizzes Ms. McCain about her 71-year-old father's quest for the White House and has choice words for rivals who once stood in his way.

"Mitt didn't keep it real," McCain observes, as the author notes "while munching on a nacho chip."

The young McCain, the only biological daughter of McCain and his second wife, Cindy McCain, also dismisses the idea of a McCain-Huckabee ticket: "That's not going to happen. . . I don't think they'd be a good match for a lot of reasons and am not even sure if that's what Huckabee's going for, anyway. I think he wants to be the head of the evangelical movement."

Regarding her own political bent, McCain tells GQ, "I'm an Independent. Socially liberal, economically conservative. I believe in a lot of Republican ideals, with the war being the number one thing I completely agree with my Dad on."

She also endorses her father's reputation for straight talk; "I'm almost incapable of bulls***. He's the same way," she says in the interview.

Ms. McCain doesn't reserve admiration only for her father. Calling her 96-year-old grandmother Roberta McCain "crazy in a good way", McCain relates, "Nana drives fast. She got pulled over for doing 112 in Flagstaff about a year ago."

As for her mother, Cindy, McCain explains, "People ask me if my Mom's hot. That's my Mom! But what people don't know is that she's actually hilarious. She really liked "Knocked Up" and "Wedding Crashers"," that latter being a film in which Senator McCain made a cameo appearance.

And what will the young McCain do at the end of Election 2008?

According to GQ, "(McCain) insists she wants to properly commemorate the experience' by getting another tattoo at the end of the campaign. (She already has a star outline on the top of her right foot, a souvenir of spring break in San Diego last year.) She and her friends are batting around ideas. The only proposal that's gained any traction so far is to have McCain written in Old English on the small of her back."

At least part of the interview, according to GQ, took place in her Phoenix, Arizona, loft, purchased by her parents "around the time she graduated from Columbia University last spring."

Mr. Veis describes the cozy pad as "a spaceship furnished by West Elm. There's a giant silver chimney that extends out of her fireplace into the ceiling about twenty feet above. Across the living room is a very stylish and very uncomfortable-look-ing pod chair. And then there's Meghan's prized tchotchke of the moment: a skull that, when you open its mouth, reveals a clock."

Inside the fridge?  Nothing too shocking for a recent college grad: "Bud Light cans, a six-pack of Stella Artois, and twelve cups of Jell-O pudding."

Also well documented, favorite celebrities: "The burlesque stripper Dita Von Teese," even though she admitted "I know she's not someone you would expect the daughter of a Republican candidate to like, but I love her." 

While Dita Von Teese has not endorsed any candidate, others have been supportive of her father's bid for the White House.

According to GQ, "Recall(ing) the day when actor Wilford Brimley, he of the Quaker Oats ads, called to offer his support. An operative got off the phone and grandly announced to the room, 'We've got Brimley!' The phrase, she says, became a rallying cry" for the camp."

Alas, the campaign has had some negative impact on her personal life.

In the interview, she claimed only one "official" date since the campaign began and was bound to set the record straight regarding rumors she dated a supporter of Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex.

McCain told GQ: "That has been blown out of proportion in every way! What happened is that I dropped my coffee and he helped me with it and was like, 'Do you want to go to Baja Fresh?' . . . Not that I would be against dating a Ron Paul supporter, but he turned out to be very strange. He collected Barbie dolls. I called my girlfriends after and was like, 'That's weird, right?'"

As for what she does look for in guys? 

"I like bad boys for the most part. In the past, I have liked tattooed guys who wear Converse. But I'd be open to anyone as long as you have a sense of humor. I have also dated totally normal guys who look like you, I guess-D.C.-looking guys."

According to GQ, McCain elaborated, "I'm an acquired taste. I'm a daughter of a Republican senator. I started dating this guy, and he wouldn't date me anymore because he found out who my Dad was. He says, 'I don't agree with his politics.' Isn't that terrible? That's why you're dumping me? We only went on two dates, but still. Not everybody wants to go out with somebody so high-profile. If they do, they're investment bankers. Seriously. Ugh! If you're an investment banker, don't hit on me. You can quote me. I'm not interested."

Oh, kids say the darndest things...

March 18, 2008 in Hunter, Duncan, Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (26)

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