Meghan McCain: Michele Bachmann Is 'More Smarter' Than Sarah Palin

Newly-minted MSNBC contributor Meghan McCain declared Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann "the thinking man's Sarah Palin" after conducting her first official interview for the network with the Minnesota congresswoman.

"I famously said a statement earlier where I said that Michele Bachmann was the poor man’s Sarah Palin, and after meeting this woman I am completely wrong," McCain said Thursday on "Now With Alex Wagner." "This is the thinking man’s Sarah Palin."

“I didn’t know what to expect and I’m a person who has been around politicians my entire life," she added about meeting Bachmann. "I connected with this woman and I thought, this is what she should be doing, she's talking about being a mother and on foreign policy things....I loved her."

Asked later to further compare Bachmann to her father's 2008 running mate, McCain had a grammatical hiccup when she said she found Bachmann "more smarter."

"I think she's -- this is going to get me in trouble -- but I actually I think she's just more smarter. I think that she's more -- on foreign policy I mean I just think all the things she's done in the debates, I've been very impressed," McCain said. "I just thinks she's older and more established and you know she's been a member of Congress for a very long time."

At 55, Bachmann is eight years older than Palin. She's been a member of the House of Representatives for five years, first elected in 2006 -- the same year Palin was elected governor of Alaska.

Back in January, McCain slammed Bachmann's Tea Party rebuttal to President Barack Obama's State of the Union, calling her "one rogue woman."

"I think it's important to note that Michele Bachmann is not a leader, and she's not the leader of the Republican Party," McCain said. "Michele Bachmann is no better than a poor man's Sarah Palin."

One last tidbit from their interview: Bachmann revealed that in high school, no one ever asked her to prom.

"I wasn’t invited to senior prom either," McCain said. "So I was kind of like, girls kick ass later on in life!"

Watch the clip below, via MSNBC: