Lies, damned lies, and John McCain claiming he was never a maverick

By Michael J.W. Stickings

You've heard about conservatives rewriting history, right? Well, how about one conservative, John McCain, trying to rewrite his own history by denying he was ever a maverick?

Sounds crazy, eh? I mean, the guy must be losing his mind, or must have lost a good chunk of it already. Either that, or he's so stupid or arrogant as to think that no one actually remembers all that maverick talk during the '08 campaign.

Whatever the case, there he was, telling Newsweek's David Margolick:

I never considered myself a maverick.

Uhhhhhh... what?

I mean, of course he did. All the time. The whole mavericky thing was a centerpiece of his campaign, and he and Palin revelled in it, pushing it at every opportunity. Right? Surely that wasn't some horrible dream that we all dreamed together?

At Politico, Ben Smith helpfully posts a McCain-Palin '08 campaign ad that, well, let's just say it pretty much proves, as if we really needed any further proof, that McCain is full of shit. You can watch the ad below. (It was originally uploaded by johnmccain.com and -- who knows? -- may be taken down if this new non-maverick thing takes holds as campaign rhetoric, what with McCain lurching to the right to try to fend off an extremist conservative primary challenge from J.D. Hayworth, who is calling himself, contra McCain, "The Consistent Conservative.")

(UPDATE: Smith also posts a pre-election SNL clip featuring McCain joking about just how mavericky he is. Meanwhile, Hayworth, predictably enough, is hitting back, but it's McCain's fault for giving him such a huge opening by saying such a stupid thing.)

Or just go to YouTube and do a search for "John McCain maverick." Look what comes up first (as of right now). An even more helpful montage from TPM. You can watch that below, too.

The point: John McCain is either senile or a liar. Or maybe both. (Or maybe he's just really, really desperate and willing to do/say anything contra Hayworth. Like appear at campaign rallies and do interviews with Palin, who just makes McCain look awkward and uncomfortable with her mindless blather.)

(Of course, he was always more faux maverick than genuine maverick, and he used the maverick/independent label for self-promotional political purposes. While he has shown himself to be somewhat mavericky on some issues, like torture and immigration, he's generally been a solid conservative and loyal Republican throughout his political career.)