father daughter

John McCain Remains a Proud Bigot. Is Meghan McCain Our Best Hope to Change His Beliefs? Yep

Fortunately for Meghan McCain, not all university student groups are scared of her pro-marriage stance. Which was why she held court in front of 400 students at the University of Florida in Gainesville on Wednesday, where the little matter of how her father is a proud bigot came up.

Despite very public support (lip service?) of gay rights from both Meghan and her mother Cindy — which has critics calling them “haters” — John isn’t budging. His latest gaff? Calling Don’t Ask Don’t Tell a “successful policy” that must remain.

Which puts Meghan in a semi-awkward position: Loving her father, while handily disagreeing with his politics. Or morals. Or, the word Queerty prefers: bigotry. But, she told the university crowd, he might see the light one day soon. ABC News relays:

As for her father, who supports efforts to ban gay marriage in California, McCain said she is having conversations with him and taking things step-by-step.

“I think that he is coming along. He’s 73 years old. It’s difficult,” she said, “I keep telling people ‘You continue putting pressure on President Obama and I’ll continue putting pressure on my father.’”

Heh, that’s cute.

But Meghan isn’t anywhere near an objective operator in this conversation; Sen. McCain is her father, who she loves, as she should. But she is actually the best ally we’ve got in convincing a conservative Republican senator that his beliefs aren’t just wrong, that they aren’t just discriminatory, that they aren’t just hurting American families, but that he has the responsibility as an elected official to do something about it.

It’s a big task. Have you ever tried convincing your (older) parents they were wrong about something? Now multiply that argument by about 10,000, to factor in the pressure John faces from constituents and fellow Republican officials. Reconciling his morals is one thing; getting him to be a maverick and standing up for them is another.

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