Dirty Sexy Politics [Hardcover]

Meghan McCain (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 31, 2010

Meghan McCain came to prominence as the straight-talking, progressive daughter of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain. And her profile has only risen since the election ended in favor of the other guy.

What makes Meghan so appealing As a new role model for young, creative, and vocal members of the GOP, she’s unafraid to mix it up and speak her mind. In Dirty Sexy Politics she takes a hard look at the future of her party. She doesn’t shy away from serious issues and her raucous humor and down-to-earth style keep her positions accessible.

In this witty, candid, and boisterous book, Meghan takes us deep behind the scenes of the campaign trail. She steals campaign signs in New Hampshire, tastes the nightlife in Nashville, and has a strange encounter with Laura and Jenna Bush at the White House. Along the way, she falls in love with America—while seeing how far the Republican Party has veered from its core values of freedom, honesty, and individuality. In Dirty Sexy Politics, Meghan McCain gives us a true insider's account of life on a campaign trail.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Meghan McCain is the creator of the Web site mccainblogette.com and has written for Newsweek. She is currently a blogger for The Daily Beast.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; First Edition edition (August 31, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401323774
• ISBN-13: 978-1401323776
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MEGHAN MCCAIN writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast. Prior to that, McCain worked on her father's 2008 presidential campaign and created the website McCainBlogette.com, which provided a personal look at daily life on the campaign. Her children's book, My Dad, John McCain, was a national bestseller. She lives in New York City.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 88 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Meghan McCain is a hot mess.... November 19, 2010

By grm1984

Format:Hardcover

12 things Meghan McCain talks about in her book....

1. Her hair, make-up, high heels, and love of sparkly clothing with sequins.

2. How mean Jenna Bush was for not wanting to hang out with her when she visited the White House.

3. How desperately she wanted to be "First Daughter," and how girls, mainly Chelsea Clinton, though she's never actually mentioned by name, are uptight and ungrateful and should be more appreciative and excited that they get to be members of the super special "daughters-of" club.

4. How she just can't help dropping the F-word, even when she's in a professional setting, like a presidential campaign. She just can't help it, guys! It, like, slips out! That's, like, just who she is and how she talks!

5. How her mother, Cindy, told Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston that she'd love to be their child's godmother, and how sooooo rude it was that Bristol and Levi weren't flattered by this and didn't take her up on the offer.

6. How she got wasted in Nashville then announced to everyone at a bar that her dad was running for president.

7. How she got so hopped up on Xanax that she missed several campaign stops the day before the election day.

8. The super gross hotels rooms she had to stay in while on the road with her dad's campaign. And how, like, one time she and her friends left a bunch of food outside a mean campaign reporter's hotel room so he'd step on it when he walked out into the hall the next morning. Isn't that, like, the funniest thing ever?

9. How totally unfair it was that the Palins, including 7-year-old Piper, had people to do their hair and make-up for them, meanwhile Meghan had to do her own hair and make-up. I mean, can you believe that?!?

10. How the people at GQ Magazine are jerks for publishing a picture of her (a picture she willingly posed for, mind you) sprawled out on a hotel bed, dressed in a low-cut top, and sipping a beer while playing on her computer. And how shocked she was when her father's campaign was upset about the photoshoot. Couldn't they see she was in her early 20's? How was she to know any better? Jerks!

11. How much she just loves hanging out in her pajamas and UGG boots. It's, like, the best.

12. How everyone on her dad's campaign thought she was a spoiled brat who didn't deserve to be there and how, like, totally not cool that was!

Meghan doesn't do herself any favors with this book. She says in the beginning that she's not out to settle any scores, then spends the remainder of the book bad-mouthing people and complaining about how everyone on her father's campaign was mean to her and how, yeah, maybe she messed up a few dozen times, but she was in her early 20's and didn't know any better and they're all jerks for not understanding that. Meghan comes across as entitled, oblivious, and desperate. This girl is one hot mess.

47 of 56 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointment November 26, 2010

By pinkpolkadots

Format:Hardcover

As a 23 year old moderate conservative I hoped to find commonalities with Meghan McCain. However, this book did nothing but reveal Meghan as a spoiled, self-centered brat with no class. The book made me feel intensely uncomfortable and embarrassed for her father. I have no idea what airing her dirty laundry and grievances at nearly everyone on her father's campaign, the Republican party, OR in politics in general was supposed to accomplish. She seems to expect everyone (the Palins, the Bush girls) to be her best friend and pouts in her room if they don't sit right down and gossip with her.

I would have been ashamed to admit to taking shared Xanax on ELECTION DAY if my mother had a history of prescription drug abuse, but Meghan "has no secrets". Meghan has no sense of responsibility or care for how she makes her family look and instead blames everyone around her. Talking repeatedly of sitting around in her "jammies and UGGS" with unbrushed hair sobbing about one slight or another, she just does not present herself in a good light. Do they not teach professionalism at Columbia?

Meghan is also a walking contradiction. She swears she doesn't drink much, yet refers to the best night ever with John Rich in which she publically speaks about her dad's election and then is black out drunk the rest of the night. She states she is anti-drug yet takes Xanax not prescribed to her on election day. She states that she never falls asleep in her clothes with her make up on, yet continues to describe atleast 3 more occasions of that exact thing happening. She claims how much her father has taught her self reliance and not to depend on "the government, family money, or trust funds" when admitting that she used money from her grandfather in order to even go on the campaign trail and then sat home at her parents house doing nothing but sulking, going on dates and partying for two months after the election.

The interesting part is, this book has a defensive air, like it is Meghan's chance to clear the air about what a liability she was on her father's campaign. I would have NEVER known she was such a disaster if she hadn't written this book!

She sees herself as free spirited, outgoing, new voice for young republicans, with a love of glitter and flashy clothes.

I see her as a loud, disrespectful, entitled brat with trashy clothes and bleached, fried hair (yes she defends her hair in the book, but really?).

John McCain's daughter is oblivious to the detriment she could bring upon her father's future endeavors.

46 of 59 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Open politics and everything else September 6, 2010

By wogan TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Despite the title: Dirty Sexy Politics, Meghan McCain's book is mostly about her and her feelings during the 2008 presidential campaign. She tells of stealing other politician's signs and mostly her belief that she was an outsider in her father's run for the White House. She is kept out of the loop in many instances, especially in the choosing of Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential candidate.
Some of her observances of the political world around her are astute, but most are her very personal opinions on how she was treated and the actions of others working on the campaign trail. She does write of her feelings of love of the country and especially of what the Republican party used to be and what she wants it to become again.
Whatever your political leanings this might be an interesting insight to political campaigns. You might be able to see both viewpoints through all her personal wining about her not being included in so many of her parent's events; but then she admits she refuses to wear the pin the Secret Service has family members and others wear so that they can more easy tell who is unauthorized. She bewails the fact, "can't they just remember my face". She is not a team player, she is her own person and remains so after the defeat of her father. She is supposed to drive to Sedona to be with the family, but instead chooses to stay a few days with her friends. When she finally goes to the family cabin, with her friends, her parents would come into the room and want to talk, but she continues to play their Rock Band game.

Much of her narration is honest and heartfelt. She does admit that maybe she had a chip on her shoulder or was jealous of the attention the Palin family received. She is her own person and seems to be honest in the story she tells.