Capehart on MSNBC: GOP Now Must 'Skip a Generation and Wait for the Meghan McCains'

In the wake of the revelations about South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, considered a potential 2012 GOP presidential contender, Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart declared on MSNBC: “Maybe what the Republican Party is going to have to do is skip a generation and wait for the Meghan McCains to come of age so that they can run for office and take over the mantle of the party.” Capehart proceeded to pass along “a little joke” from Post colleague Charles Lane who “said at the rate Republicans are going, the only marriages that will be worth anything are the gay folks getting married in Vermont.”

At about 3:13 PM EDT, anchor Tamron Hall prompted Capehart's comments as she raised the name of the liberal younger McCain in forwarding the view the party must move left: “We've seen a lot of young Republicans, Meghan McCain and some others who've come out and said listen, this party has to modernize. They can no longer turn their backs on gays and tout family values as the way in.”

The June 24 exchange:

TAMRON HALL: We've seen a lot of young Republicans, Meghan McCain and some others who've come out and said listen, this party has to modernize. They can no longer turn their backs on gays and tout family values as the way in. And here again, the family values argument gets a slap in the face by someone who is quoting the bible and asking folks for forgiveness. Does this drive home what some of these young Republicans are talking about, that it needs to be about policy and not what's happening in your private life?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Right. You know, what this now latest revelation shows is that maybe what the Republican Party is going to have to do is skip a generation and wait for the Meghan McCains to come of age so that they can run for office and take over the mantle of the party. You know, a colleague of mine, Chuck Lane, made a little joke just before I came on air. He said at the rate Republicans are going, the only marriages that will be worth anything are the gay folks getting married in Vermont. The Republican Party has a serious, serious problem and right now the only person -- the folks that you listed, David [Shuster] -- who actually has a chance of coming back and making a serious run in 2012 is Bobby Jindal. You can recover from policy mistakes and substance mistakes. You really can't recover from moral mistakes.