Who's a Maverick?

I am so sick and tired of McCain and his camp calling him a "maverick." Just calling himself that and repeating it over and over and over doesn't make it so. It's like trying to give yourself a nickname. It's just so desperate and lame. And it rarely sticks.

For fuck's sake the man has voted with Bush over 90% of the time.

I just want someone in a debate or interview to say, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." Does McCain even know what maverick means?

The original Mavericks—actual, literal Mavericks— say no. And they're kinda pissed about it too.

It's been bouncing around the blogs for a week now. It made the New York Times a couple of days ago.

I really hope this becomes fodder for the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC.

From the New York Times:
Who You Callin’ a Maverick?

There’s that word again: maverick. In Thursday’s vice-presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate, used it to describe herself and her running mate, Senator John McCain, no fewer than six times, at one point calling him “the consummate maverick.”

But to those who know the history of the word, applying it to Mr. McCain is a bit of a stretch — and to one Texas family in particular it is even a bit offensive.

“I’m just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick,” said Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.