Meghan McCain makes the regrettable descent into punditry

I knew that Meghan McCain's latest Daily Beast column would be a rough job in reading before I even got to the first sentence. On the Beast's front page, next to McCain's byline, read "What I Learned From the Democrats: The mistakes liberals like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are making can teach Republicans how to regain power--and how to hold onto it."

Here we go. It seems that McCain has finally made the jump from reflecting on party issues and challenges from her unique vantage point of being John McCain's daughter--which she has done pretty well, having written some spunky and insightful columns--to pontificating about issues on which she has much less, if any, authority. She's written a column, in other words, in the mold of a traditional pundit. She even cited an easily-accessible (and thereby easily fact-checkable) quote out of context! That's a quick learner.

But I ought to give McCain some credit for this column--it could be much worse. She concludes "If Republicans are going to gain power again, and more importantly, remain in power, we must recognize the value of centrism—instead of turning to extreme right-wing members of the party like Rush Limbaugh". Even if it's a tired line with little to back it up, at least she's pushing the sounder course. She's already much more helpful--or, failing that, much less harmful--to her party than Bill Kristol or Ann Coulter has been. (And an aside: lest you think, dear reader, that my tone is beginning to sound like a pundit itself by claiming such a thing, here's some corroboration--a helpful tool in argument.) And for that reason, maybe I should complain less.

Or maybe I shouldn't. The Republican party and the larger conservative movement needs fresh voices and new ideas more than ever. McCain would be blowing a huge opportunity to stop what she's been doing and get comfortable right now. And because the health of democracy relies on principled engagement between different views, it isn't just her originality as a talking head that's at stake if she and others like her fail.