Meghan McCain Slams ‘Journalists and Pundits’ Who Praised Her Dad for Being a Maverick But Are ‘Defaming’ Kyrsten Sinema
Political commentator and co-host of The View Meghan McCain on Tuesday lashed out at members of the press and political punditry over negative reactions to Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the wake of the senator’s op-ed stating emphatically once more her opposition to fellow Democrats’ efforts to destroy the filibuster.
In particular, her criticism was focused on the inconsistency of bashing Sinema’s independent streak from people who previously praised that “maverick” quality in McCain’s father, the late Sen. John McCain.
Sen. McCain was often the darling of the mainstream press and liberal pundits for his bucking the GOP party line. Both his tendency toward dissent and the media’s tendency to laud it were especially prevalent and noticeable in the Trump years (although the media’s habit went on a break when McCain was running against Barack Obama.)
“Same journalists and pundits who go OUT OF THEIR WAY to bring up my Dad and applaud him for his maverick ways are sure spending a lot of energy ripping apart and defaming [Sinema] for being a maverick against her party,” Meghan McCain tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.
Same journalists and pundits who go OUT OF THEIR WAY to bring up my Dad and applaud him for his maverick ways are sure spending a lot of energy ripping apart and defaming @kyrstensinema for being a maverick against her party…
No attempt at intellectual consistency anywhere.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) June 22, 2021
Most of the replies and quote tweets in the first half hour or so were from the Pathetic Troll school of Twitter, but there were some thoughtful replies and, notably, a favorable retweet from fellow conservative pundit Brit Hume, who succinctly remarked “Good point.”
Sinema’s continued defiance of the Democrat party line on the filibuster has made her, along with fellow Democrat outlier Joe Manchin, an almost daily topic and target for D.C. media.
This article from Fox News lists several examples of press asking Manchin and Sinema about the filibuster over and over, despite them having answered the question repeatedly. That was on June 4. Two op-eds and many press appearances and Q&As later, they are still asking.
Manchin, asked about the possibility of reforming the filibuster, laughs and says, “No guys, listen, I think you all know where I stand on the filibuster.”
— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) June 22, 2021
And asking.
Scene: Sinema’s office right now. pic.twitter.com/G7LJ49ax3R
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) June 22, 2021
As for the defaming, both have been called a lot of things in the last month, from Manchin being dubbed a “power hungry white dude” who is “upholding white supremacy” to Sinema being implicated as a supporter of Trump’s election hysterics, and just about everything in between.
With S.1 on the table, and protests outside Sinema’s offices in Arizona as we speak, there is unlikely to be any cooling off anytime soon.
But Arizonan independent streaks being what they are, it’s just as doubtful the maverick is going to give way.
