McCain to Graham: I’m Not the Senate Maverick, but You Can’t Be One Either
It’s no secret that Sen. John McCain has a love-hate relationship with the “maverick” moniker. But thanks to this week’s New Yorker, we can add another emotion to the senator’s complicated feelings about the label: jealousy. That is, jealously over other senators who might try to take the maverick title as their own.
First, let’s review the history of the maverick flap. During two decades in public service, McCain built a reputation for reaching across the aisle, seeking compromise on immigration, and lending his name to landmark campaign-finance legislation. For a time during his 2008 presidential bid, his campaign embraced a narrative portraying him and running mate Sarah Palin as “The Original Mavericks.” Palin repeatedly referred to McCain as such. “Maverick” became virtually synonymous with the Arizona senator.
But this past April, worried about a primary challenge from a conservative talk-radio host (whom McCain ended up routing), the senior senator from Arizona told NEWSWEEK, “I never considered myself a maverick.” As liberal critics predictably skewered him for that remark, the conventional narrative about McCain became the story of a man torn by a battle to retain his seat. No doubt proud of his bipartisan past, he was gritting his teeth and shirking it now, pandering to conservatives in order to preserve his future.
LMAO!