# John McCain says he's not a Maverick, never was one **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 5, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072 "2010-04-05T20:01:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/1 "2010-04-05T20:01:50Z")
John McCain is now facing a tough primary challenge from a hard Right conservative, and in a desperate attempt to keep his senate seat he has chosen to abandon his signature slogan from his 2008 campaign, [now](http://www.newsweek.com/id/235883) he’s making the incredible claim that he **never** considered himself to be a maverick! McCain must think Arizona voters are awfully stupid. If I were interviewing him, I’d ask him the classic question that Jack McCoy of Law and Order once asked to a witness: Were you lying then, or are you lying now? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/2 "2010-04-05T20:04:21Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > John McCain is now facing a tough primary challenge from a hard Right conservative, and not only has he chosen to abandon his signature slogan from his 2008 campaign, [now](http://www.newsweek.com/id/235883) he’s making the incredible claim that he **never** considered himself to be a maverick! > > McCain must think Arizona voters are awfully stupid. If I were interviewing him, I’d ask him the classic question that Jack McCoy of Law and Order once asked to a witness: Were you lying then, or are you lying now? He’s lying now, because now he’s the Mavericky Washington Outsider that Arizona needs. Back then he was just another politician trying to fight the system from the inside. He fell from grace because blah blah blah POW! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/3 "2010-04-05T20:06:10Z")
Sounds like he has HOPE that this CHANGE will work for him. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/4 "2010-04-05T20:14:43Z")
If he does lose his re-election, I’m guessing he’s going to have some major choice words in interviews about Sarah Palin. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/5 "2010-04-05T20:26:17Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > McCain must think Arizona voters are awfully stupid. If I were interviewing him, I’d ask him the classic question that Jack McCoy of Law and Order once asked to a witness: Were you lying then, or are you lying now? Right, because the Republicans have done so poorly all those times they’ve claimed that green was blue. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/6 "2010-04-05T20:32:19Z")
I’m beginning to believe that he really _is_ getting senile. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/7 "2010-04-05T20:53:35Z")
I guess that mavericky-outsidery stuff didn’t work out for him. ---
**Author:** ![i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/i_am_a_scientist)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/8 "2010-04-05T20:54:11Z")
This is the maverickiest thing he’s ever done ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/9 "2010-04-05T21:08:24Z")
Seeing as the last significant “maverick” act he pulled was to bring in Palin, I’m pretty sure he’s ready to stop being one. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/10 "2010-04-05T21:14:30Z")
It say something - though I’m not sure what - about politics in the U.S. these days when a sitting Senator who was his party’s Presidential candidate only two years before is fighting for his political life. Or maybe it just says something about Arizona. Hell, _McGovern_ got reelected only two years after he was crushed. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/11 "2010-04-05T21:17:47Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > It say something - though I’m not sure what - about politics in the U.S. these days when a sitting Senator who was his party’s Presidential candidate only two years before is fighting for his political life. Or maybe it just says something about Arizona. > > Hell, _McGovern_ got reelected only two years after he was crushed. McCain was the default candidate. There was almost no chance of the pubs getting anything but hammered, so those who still had a chance in '12 and beyond didn’t want to be the ones to take the beating. He was the default candidate and ran a pathetic campaign. Nobody actually WANTED him, they all just settled for him. And now he’s a loser. Worse, he’s a loser who has amply (and poorly) demonstrated that he will say and do anything to move up - or in the case stay steady. People have a shitty attention span, but even casual political followers are starting to wonder how the old man has managed to avoid whiplash. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/12 "2010-04-05T21:22:55Z")
Has anyone ever seen McCain and Lieberman _at the same time_? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/13 "2010-04-05T21:34:26Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Has anyone ever seen McCain and Lieberman _at the same time_? :eek: Ooh, maybe THEY can be the third party everyone wants! The irritating old men who start every sentence with “My friends”, but in Lieberman’s irritatingly Droopy-The-Dog-Saying “Please don’t hit me” voice. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/14 "2010-04-05T21:42:25Z")
As Tina Brown said: “It’s like the Hanoi Hilton in reverse: He held out under physical torture, but under political torture it seems he’ll say and do just about anything.” ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/15 "2010-04-05T21:52:22Z")
McCain was a throw away candidate that despite himself still ran a somewhat close race. Unfortunately, he had spurned too many on the right to recover any kind of party excitement. He experimented by adding Palin to the ticket, which despite all her faults did add a little spark to his candidacy, but he was doomed from the start. He’s a washed up has been - good riddance…I just wish I lived in AZ so I could vote against him. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/16 "2010-04-05T22:15:02Z")
You guys don’t get it, a true Maverick would never admit to being a Maverick. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/17 "2010-04-05T22:18:01Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Right, because the Republicans have done so poorly all those times they’ve claimed that green was blue. For all the bad things that can be said about simplly lying, at least it promotes a world view that is consistent with itself. When you can’t even keep your own story straight, you’ve sunken to a new low. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/18 "2010-04-05T22:19:22Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > You guys don’t get it, a true Maverick would never admit to being a Maverick. So the first rule of Maverick club is… Anyway since the politics of this are obvious, the inevitable question is whether he ever specifically called himself a maverick. Wikipedia says he often referred to himself that way but none of the cites show him using the word to describe himself, instead they mention how often it was used to describe him. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/19 "2010-04-05T22:24:44Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Wikipedia says he often referred to himself that way but none of the cites show him using the word to describe himself, instead they mention how often it was used to describe him. Once they finish his presidential library, I’ll go down and check the archives of his speeches,'kay? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072/20 "2010-04-05T22:26:10Z")
For what it’s worth, [Rolling Stone Magazine](http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain) agreed with him even before he said it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-says-hes-not-a-maverick-never-was-one/535072.md?page=2)