I’ve defended Meghan McCain. I’ve personally cut her slack, because she’s a young kid and I shudder when I think of how I was at that age. I’m also not a fan of shutting people out if they don’t agree with you 100%, both because that’s stupid — there are very few people with whom I agree 100% of the time — and also because it adds credence to that Intolerant Conservatives meme. While I know that is untrue — that the Left are the ones who are truly intolerant — sometimes, in this day and age, perception is reality. Unfair, sure, but true.

It also often had that “pack mentality” feel to it to me, and that really sticks in my craw. Picking on her was easy, so easy, it felt cheap. Sometimes it’s hard to turn the other cheek, but if you don’t, you run the risk of cheapening yourself … and by extension, everyone around you.

I also had hope (think I would have learned by now that Hope ain’t what it used to be) that she might be a breath of fresh air, a way to take some of the stereotypical fuddy-duddy out of the Republican Party, of which I do believe the party is in dire need. I chalked up many of her worst traits to youthful naïveté.

Boy, was I wrong. I let my deploring of the pack mentality thing cloud my judgment; I also was too gracious in my “she’s just a kid” thinking. There is a vast difference between youthful naïveté and willful ignorance. Meghan McCain has now clearly shown that she suffers from the latter.

Like many Americans, I watched as Senator Ted Kennedy was laid to rest over the weekend after his year-long battle with brain cancer. The day marked not only the end of the Camelot era, but seemed to signal the final passing of many things politically. I certainly didn’t agree with Senator Kennedy’s politics on many issues, but as I listened to his friends, family, and Senate colleagues — including my father — tell stories of the man they knew, what was so evident was that Ted Kennedy always believed you could find compromise on the really important matters. [snip]

After reading some of the discourse online, I was both surprised and disgusted at what was being written. I was shocked that even in death, people were having partisan quarrels about his legacy which led me to writing a Tweet saying, “I just don’t know what kind of life of anger you lead if you can’t put politics aside for a moment to respect a man’s passing…” Immediately, this post was used yet again by some as an example of my “secret liberalism.” Because what — apparently I can only respect a politician who had served nearly five decades in the Senate if he was a Republican? I don’t know how or why we got to this place in politics. Why death is used as yet another excuse for mudslinging and party rhetoric. It is depressing to think that we have come to an age where you can only mourn a man’s service to his country if he abides by every single political tenet you believe in. Whenever people ask me if I want to run for office, my answer is always no. Among the many reasons is that I don’t want to go into an industry where there seems to be a complete inability to meet in the middle on issues. Why would anyone want to work in an us-versus-them environment?

Ohhh, Camelot! ZOMG, so super cool! Meghan, honey? This is real life, not a fairy tale, regardless of what the “the Press” might think. And by Press, I don’t mean your “faves,” Stewart and Colbert, though there isn’t much difference between them and some cable “news” outlets. I know one of your likely idols, Andrea Mitchell cloyingly … and insanely … said “Today the Heavens Were Weeping for Ted Kennedy,” but it simply isn’t true.

If anything, they were weeping for Mary Jo Kopechne, a FOOTNOTE to many on the Left, apparently — and disgustingly and for the state of this country. The sad state has come to this: Regaling as a hero a man who committed negligent homicide, serial philandering, sexual harassment, drunk driving … and those are just the crimes in his personal life. Never mind the harm he did to this country with legislation, “Borking,” and attempted acts of potential treason, some might argue.

I would once again cut you some slack due to his being a family friend (and I have no comment on why that is) if not for the fact that you did NOT have to write about him in such delusional glowing terms, nor did you have to intersperse it with such childish simplicity as, “Why is it us versus them?”

If you honestly believe what you wrote, and maybe you do, being a product of our school system, or perhaps you are a devotee of the deranged Joyce Carol Oates, you could have kept it to yourself. You purposely chose not to do so. You purposely chose to ignore the fact that he harmed this country with his policies and agenda, and that he killed a woman. He left her to die in a sinking car. He left her to asphyxiate. Alone and in the dark and terrified.

Even leaving aside the multitude of sexual harassment claims which you, as a self-avowed feminist should deplore, he KILLED SOMEONE. And never repented. Never felt one ounce of remorse. But no, that matters not to you. Like your buddies on the Left, you place a higher value on childish and naive thoughts of “all getting along” and “compromise” for the “greater good” above all; even above life.

Then, in keeping with your track record, you purposely chose to slap not just every conservative, but every intellectually honest and ethical person in this country, in the face, by publishing those thoughts (I use that term loosely) so that you could appear “cool” and “above it all” and “oh so fair.”

I call B.S. That whole “I’ll say what I want,when I want to, I speak my mind” shtick doesn’t play anymore, kiddo. You see, for that to work, you have to at least once say something brave. You do not; you take the easy route every time. You think you are a rebel, an individual? You are not a rebel at all, but you are the antithesis of one. You are a sheep, albeit in really cute clothing.

If you were truly brave, you would actually, you know, discuss conservative principles. You would STAND UP for conservatives, not constantly deride them. You would applaud them, not mock them. You would work WITH them, not against them. You wouldn’t throw principle and core beliefs out the window for a quick pat on the back or for feel-goody “Oh, can’t we just all get along and work together like the super cool Camelot-y Lion?” Kumbaya moments. By the way, I’m beginning to think YOU, Meghan, are the Scarecrow. Hope you find the yellow brick road and do something about that.

But, just as there is a difference between naïveté and willful ignorance, there is also a difference between irreverent individualism and doing things purely for “shock value.” You take photographs of yourself with duct tape over your mouth as if anyone is stopping you from speaking. Sadly, oh so sadly, they are not. They may be laughing AT you, they may disagree with you and, yes, sometimes disagreements aren’t polite and some people may be big-old meany pantsers. But that doesn’t mean they are silencing you nor does it mean they are “Haters.”

Plus, you really aren’t speaking your mind. In fact, you never have. Instead, you’re speaking whatever gets you into the coolest parties and on the “hippest” shows. Yeah, good luck with that. One-trick ponies don’t have a very long shelf life.

This is the first time I’ve written about you, and it will also be the last. While I will no longer defend you, I also refuse to add to your 15 minutes of fame by giving you the attention that you clearly so desperately crave. You are not the future of the Party. Even people who defend you and sorta like you admit that. You are simply amusing to some, and an annoying gnat to others.

I’d tell you to kiss my big juicy ass, but it isn’t that big. Plus, I think your lips must be pretty tired already.

That’s right. Meow.

Lori Ziganto posts regularly at her own site, Snark and Boobs.