Meghan McCain was left out in the cold Thursday when her “View” co-hosts unanimously disagreed with her warning that Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams should tread lightly when accepting campaign assistance from celebs like Oprah Winfrey.
Winfrey, 64, hit the campaign trail with Abrams this week, knocking on doors and delivering a stirring speech encouraging Black and minority voters to head to the polls ahead of next week’s mid-term elections. However, McCain argued tapping “east coast elites” like Winfrey to campaign on Abrams’ behalf has the potential to backfire.
Meghan McCain argued that celebrity endorsements could hurt Georgia candidate Stacey Abrams in the end. (The View/video screenshot)
“Nationalizing yourself is always tenuous territory, because you don’t want to look like you’re someone who celebrities and East Coast elites like, and you’re not going around your constituents,” McCain said.
Co-host Joy Behar wasted no time bursting her bubble.
“One of the biggest East Coast elites, Donald Trump, won,” she argued, to which McCain insisted the president was a unique case.
“Donald Trump is a different case …,” the conservative co-host explained. “I’m telling you traditional candidates — I think it’s something [Texas candidate] Beto O’Rourke should be concerned right now, as well. I think when you look like you care too much about celebrity endorsements, especially after you haven’t been elected for first time, you see people like Eric Cantor, Wendy Davis, Kelly Ayotte — these are people who nationalize themselves too much.”
Guest host Anna Navarro chimed in, calling Winfrey’s influence substantial and noting that it’s her reliability that has made her so successful.
“She brings a very personal story to Georgia,” Navarro added. “Remember, Oprah wasn’t born in New York, she wasn’t born in California, she’s not an East Coast or Left Coast elite. She was born in Mississippi, in the segregated south. She’s lived discrimination. When she talks about this, she talks about it in her own skin, from her own experience and from what our ancestors built. And I think she brings a different type of credibility.”
Dissent came from an unlikely place for McCain, as her friend and fellow conservative co-host Abby Huntsman disagreed with her. Huntsman, a former Fox News host, said Winfrey would definitely motivate folks to get out and vote.
“That story that she told, that moved me,” she told her co-hosts. “That would get me off the couch. I agree with all of you guys that Oprah, it’s different than a Miley Cyrus or a Katy Perry, who I love, but they’re not going to get me out to vote. What’s different about Oprah, we let her into our home for decades.”
McCain had had enough at this point.
“So we’re basically saying Stacey Abrams has got it in the bag and she has no problems,” she opined. “We’re presenting it right now that she’s got Oprah and it doesn’t matter anymore. Trepidation, as I said, be careful with it, and I don’t know why I’m giving Democrats free advice, but be careful with this.”
Watch more in the clip below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fidg8L0X-hY&feature=youtu.be
