Maverick Family Says McCain is No Maverick

Sarah Palin and John McCain love to think of themselves as a couple of mavericks. They've made the term synonymous with John McCain and his campaign, and have used it so much that it's spawned a popular drinking game (as evidenced by Tina Fey's last Palin impersonation). But the two of them obviously have not researched where this term came from.

There is a great piece about the real Maverick family by John Schwartz of 'The New York Times' here. Sarah Palin and John McCain would probably be shocked about who these real Mavericks were. They truly marched to the tune of their own drums: the first Maverick refused to brand his cattle; one was a congressman and mayor who was labeled a Communist; and one was a lawyer who defended those without a voice, like draft dodgers and Atheists. This final Maverick was also a journalist, and the last column he wrote before he died in 2003 was one against the war in Iraq.

So, needless to say, the views of Sarah Palin and John McCain differ quite drastically from those of the real Maverick family, progressive thinkers who were liberal in times when it was very dangerous and unpopular to be so, and who have remained that way from generation to generation. The family cringes every time John McCain calls himself by their name, and it's amazing that none of them have implored him to stop.

But John McCain's and Sarah Palin's misuse of the word and name hasn't been helping them very much lately. Trying to adopt Obama's message of change as his own, trying to pass off the same policies of George Bush as new, and adopting the name of a family who despises his using it has made him little more than a joke, and the polls are showing it.