Meghan McCain: I Passed the Ridiculous GOP Purity Test

After George Washington University's College Republican group dissed for her pro-gay-marriage stance, saying her views don't align with the GOP, Meghan McCain decided to take her party's "ridiculous" purity test. McCain wanted to see "just how radical I am from the 'pure ones'"—and with a bit of half-point fudging, she scored a passing 8 out 10. Besides her flat-out no to the question about the Defense of Marriage Act, McCain deviates from the "pure" party line on climate change and amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Immigrant amnesty is a "gray area," McCain writes for the Daily Beast, and she supports cap-and-trade legislation, just not Obama's cap-and-trade plan. So while "apparently even President Reagan himself would have considered me a friend," members of her own party don't, and that's a problem: "Is it too much to ask that the Republican Party be more open-minded, that it learns to respect and accept conservatism without labels and boxes and stereotypes? Because that’s what I want for the GOP. And I’m a pure Republican." (More Meghan McCain stories.)