The XX Factor: What women really think.

Meghan McCain: Looking to the Future While Looking Like the Past

Hah, Jessica, thank you for posting that Meghan-McCain-as-goth-Betty-Boop TV clip. The thing I find the weirdest about McCain is that even as she flaunts her next-gen cred (telling Larry King she likes it when Republicans in their 40s and 50s bash her and encouraging the GOP to get with the 21st-century program), she's fashioning a personal image for herself that's oddly retro: the cute, bubbly, vintage-fashion-dudded (she's got a bit of a Felicity Shagwell look going) girl who can barely add and is all-over sweetly clueless about book-smart things. It's kind of political pundit meets I Dream of Jeannie.

Am I too harsh? It's funny how this whole persona was a lot more charming when it represented McCain's rebellion from being just another rigid, scripted, all-too-professional-and-poised candidate's child, like in this from-the-trail blog post I still remember from last summer:

On our way home we met a police officer whose last name was “McNutt.”  It reminded me of "McLovin" in the movie, “Superbad.”  It still makes me laugh!