Meghan McCain blasts ‘villain’ WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Meghan McCain has fired shots recently at the likes of Bristol Palin (because Palin didn't vote in the midterm elections), Christine O'Donnell (because she's "out of her frickin' mind") and President Barack Obama (because it's "not so presidential" to do an interview with Ryan Seacrest).

And now the conservative senator's daughter is gunning for Julian Assange, the controversial founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks.

During an event at Manhattan's Time-Life building Wednesday night, the 26-year-old Daily Beast columnist and daughter of former presidential candidate John McCain blasted Assange for publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents pertaining to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I disagree with what he did. I think it's un-American," said McCain, acknowledging that Assange is not an American. (She went on, however, to characterize Assange inaccurately as a "creepy rogue Swedish guy"-- Assange is from Australia but had applied for and was denied residency in Sweden, where he was accused of sexually assaulting two women.) "He looks like a James Bond villain. He harbors a lot of ill will toward America. To me he's a villain."

Assange, an elusive figure who is currently seeking asylum in Switzerland, has faced widespread criticism for his handling of WikiLeaks' huge document dumps, which the Pentagon contends have endangered American troops as well as Afghan and Iraqi informants.

McCain called the leaks "provocative on every level" and said they had "changed the way Americans view the war." She was participating in a panel discussion about who Time magazine's 2010 Person of the Year should be. Assange is one of the candidates. On Thursday morning, he was leading a reader poll, with more than 10,600 votes as of the time of this posting. "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart and his Comedy Central colleague Stephen Colbert were in second place with roughly 9,800 votes.

Time convenes the panel every fall in advance of its annual late-December issue recognizing the person, group of people, place, machine or idea that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year."

And to whom does McCain think that honor should go?

"The tea party is definitely my big nominee," she said. "We're seeing a cultural shift from the likes that my father says he hasn't seen in his lifetime. What I saw rumbling underneath during 2008 has really come to the surface." Second choice: Glenn Beck. "He's very biased, considers himself a commentator, not a journalist," said McCain. "These are the times we're living in. This is what journalism is today."

Meanwhile, rising Google executive Marissa Mayer cast her vote for Apple chief Steve Jobs.

"I think it's unbelievable that he hasn't gotten it already," she said. "I really do think that he's the Henry Ford of our times."

Also on the panel were musician Wyclef Jean, who made a case for his native Haiti, where he recently tried (and failed) to run for president; political strategist Joe Trippi, who threw Nancy Pelosi's name into the ring; and Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and wife of Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam who ignited a national controversy with his plans to build an Islamic cultural center two blocks from ground zero. (He also is one of the nominees.)

"The defining moment for our struggle was when [New York] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg came out and made his very famous speech" supporting the cultural center, said Khan, explaining why she believes Bloomberg should be Time's Person of the Year. She also promoted her husband as well as Stewart, "because he did restore sanity, he tried to restore sanity" with his Oct. 30 rally in Washington.

Other names that came up during the panel were Army Gen. David Petraeus, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, Fox News Channel President Roger Ailes and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The list of official candidates can be viewed on Time's website.

Last year, the designation went to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; the year before that, President Obama received the honor. In 2006, Time threw a curveball by making "You"--i.e., the progenitor of a wave of user-generated media content--its Person of the Year.

This year's selection will be revealed on the Dec. 15 episode of the "Today" show.

(Photo of McCain with Wyclef Jean on Wednesday: Courtesy of Time Inc.)