Dirty Sexy Politics: Republican reveals all

Author: Meghan McCain

Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir, Politics

Publisher: Hyperion

Meghan McCain, the daughter of US Senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain, first came to the fore for her blog, McCain Blogette, and subsequently gained a reputation for being outspoken and having a tendency to overshare. The 26-year-old blogger recently published her campaign memoir, Dirty Sexy Politics, which chronicles her life on the campaign trail as she tries to contribute to John McCain’s 2008 Presidential bid.

In the book, Meghan talks about the time she spent with the campaign (from which she was eventually sidelined) and reveals details like her surprise over the choice of Sarah Palin as her father’s running mate and how she nearly overdosed on Xanax on the day of the election. Despite its title, the book is not particularly dirty or sexy and doesn’t exactly offer scathing political commentary. The book wants to offer an insider’ point of view but has been written by someone who was essentially treated like an outsider. As a result, interesting revelations are few and far between.

The writer offers fewer insights into the behind-the-scenes presidential campaign action and goes more-in-depth when it comes to the reasoning behind her wardrobe choices and her impression of everyone else’s clothing selection. To her credit, she does acknowledge that her “stories are decidedly impressionistic rather than reportorial,” but Meghan McCain is neither a political heavyweight, nor a master of prose. Moreover, it doesn’t help her much that she lacks the material (and the writing skills) to warrant a full-length book, with both the content and style being more suitable for a blog.

Overall, Dirty Sexy Politics is a quick read that might resonate more with younger readers and will not offer much to those who are looking for political insight.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2011.