Meghan McCain Says She Used Being a Republican to Get out of Bad Dates on ‘The View’: “They’ll Run Right Off!”

Have you ever struggled to escape a bad date? Resident dating guru Meghan McCain has some advice for you. Today on The View, the co-host opened up about the techniques she uses (or rather, used, as she’s married to writer Ben Domenech) to flee those cruddy dates: just tell the person you’re a member of the Republican Party.

In the segment, while subbing in for anchor Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar asked her fellow co-hosts about the phenomenon. “When a first date is clearly not leading to a second one, people scramble for a way to end it painlessly,” Behar began the discussion. “I always say I have to throw up, if that used to happen to me.”

The co-hosts chimed in with their tips and tricks after Behar’s upchuck of an idea. Sara Haines shared that when she was dating, she’d limit her outings to one drink, one hour, with solid dinner plans in place elsewhere to run off to after the date had finished. Yvette Nicole Brown, subbing in for Sunny Hostin, said she had just learned about the “Irish goodbye,” in which a person just up and leaves, and Ana Navarro agreed, adding to be sure to take your purse and tip the waitress.

McCain, however, had an entirely different perspective on the whole concept. Having lived in New York City and Los Angeles, the co-host shared that her exit strategy became simple once she informed her date that she was *gasp* a Republican. (Apparently, some of her dates should’ve performed a quick Google search.)

“It’s really easy,” McCain said. “All I’d have to say is, ‘I’m a Republican. I love President Bush. I’m pro-life and I’m an NRA member.’ They’ll just run right away. They’ll run right off!”

Behar, Haines, and Brown got a kick out of her joke, whereas Navarro — a lifelong Republican — remained stoic as McCain continued, offering up the technique to anyone who needed it.

“Feel free to take that,” she said. “Even if you’re not a Republican, you can just start lying about it. Men will run away. This only works in New York and L.A., but it works like a charm. There was one guy, in particular, I remember that I was like, I’m not having it. I was like, ‘I really, really love Mitch McConnell.’ I don’t love Mitch McConnell, but that worked. He was like, ‘Oh! My God, okay.’ And the date was over! I was fine.”

After the laughing stopped, in full earnest, McCain shared that it’s a tried-and-true formula.

“It really works, I’m just saying,” McCain concluded. “Not so well in Texas.”

Behar jumped in on the bit, saying that she was going to try the opposite by telling suitors in Texas or Mississippi that she was a Democrat.

“Just say you’re Joy Behar!” Haines interjected, cackling. “They’ll know.”

Watch the entire segment in the video above. The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.

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