McCain the Maverick?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary a maverick is a lone dissenter, a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates. On October 18, 2001 McCain was on the David Letterman Show where he joined the Bush-Cheney invade Iraq chorus:

LETTERMAN: How are things going in Afghanistan now?

MCCAIN: I think we’re doing fine .... I think we’ll do fine. The second phase — if I could just make one, very quickly — the second phase is Iraq. There is some indication...some of this anthrax may — and I emphasize may — have come from Iraq.”

A maverick is a nonconformist, independent, loner. One that refuses to abide by the dictates of or resists adherence to a group; a dissenter. On October 28, 2001 McCain was interviewed on CNN where he said,“... Shed a tear and then get on with the business of killing our enemies as quickly as we can and as ruthlessly as we must.....I'm proud of the president and the job that he and his team have done and are doing....I have great confidence in the leadership of this country....the important factor here is that Saddam Hussein continues to acquire weapons of mass destruction. There are credible reports of involvement between Iraqi administration officials, Iraqi officials, and the terrorists. There's very little doubt about what Saddam Hussein is trying to do.”
A maverick is independent in thought and action or exhibiting such independence: maverick politicians; a maverick decision. On December 6, 2001 when asked if the United States might need 100,000 or more troops to invade Iraq, McCain told MSNBC, that a larger invasion force was not necessary agreeing with the positions taken by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and directly contradicting Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki policy of “Great Efficiency, Great Force.”.

The word maverick is thought to be an in allusion to Samuel A. Maverick (1803-70), Texas cattle owner who was negligent in branding his calves. The word evolved from "...calf or yearling found without an owner's brand," to a sense of an "individualist, an unconventional person, masterless."

An unbranded range animal is traditionally considered the property of the first person who brands it. If John McCain and Sara Palin were mavericks, it now appears they have been rounded up by the far right of the Republican Party and both have had the Celtic Cross burnt onto their rumps.

September 2008