Meghan McCain Proves Herself to Be Not 'More Smarter' Than Sarah Palin

COMMENTARY | Meghan McCain, the daughter of Sen. John McCain, former presidential candidate, appeared on MSNBC to once again denigrate the intelligence of her father's running mate, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and in the process embarrassed herself.

The Daily Caller reports McCain compared Rep. Michele Bachmann to Palin. "I think she's this is going to get me in trouble, but I actually think she's just more smarter."

While McCain later tweeted to, in effect, beg for mercy for not saying "much smarter," the damage was done. She had tried to trash the intelligence of another human being while displaying a conspicuous lack of that quality herself. It was as if Bill Clinton had appeared on TV and had accused someone else of being promiscuous.

It is well known that McCain looks down her nose at Palin, as this interview on ABC suggests. The interview was given on the occasion of the publication of her book, with the intellectually weighty title of, "Dirty, Sexy, Politics" which had a picture of McCain frolicking with an elephant on the cover.

The New York Times and the Huffington Post have suggested that Palin's intelligence and he! r comman d of the issues have gone unappreciated by the media elites. Attempts to denigrate her intellect such as during the infamous "Paul Revere" incident have backfired to the detriment of those doing the denigrating.

The question arises, why is McCain given a platform to spout her vacuous opinions? The question almost answers itself. The mainstream media loves to hear from nominal Republicans who are willing to trash other Republicans. Unfortunately, news organizations like MSNBC set themselves up for ridicule when they do this.

McCain clearly has some sort of personal issue with Palin. While one could console oneself with the thought that she is at least not as nasty about it as, say, Bill Maher, one wonders why she doesn't just drop it and move on. Palin is a private citizen. She is not running for office. That Palin is still the object of vitriol says a lot about our political culture in general and about the fact that McCain is certainly not "more smarter" than the Lady from Wasilla.