John McCain is a fake "maverick"...

[kentuck]

And most Republicans know it. He is not the "straight shooter" that the media pretends him to be. He is more closely tied to lobbyists than any other person in the Senate. These connections originated from his time as Chair of the Commerce Committee, which handed out licenses and did away with regulations regarding radio and television stations. He was more than willing to scratch their backs and the favor was returned.

Now, they are spinning the story that he is an "expert" on foreign policy. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest any truth to that claim. His decisions have been disastrous for our country, in that he was one of the most vocal supporters of the invasion of Iraq. Only when it was obvious that it was a blunder, he started looking for excuses for his faulty judgements. As many have pointed out, including General Wesley Clark, being a POW does not make one a foreign policy expert. Neither does being in the military or being a hero. People can respect John McCain for his painful experiences as a POW during the Vietnam War, but they will be hard-pressed to list the foreign policy accomplishments of John McCain. In this regard, he is a fake.

[ClassWarrior]

1. The "maverick" image was political rehab for his involvement in the Keating Five.

NGU.

[Barack_America]

2. He's no more "maverick" than Tom Cruise.

;)

[TwilightGardener]

3. Mr. "Rogue State Rollback" was actually a neocon before it became cool.

He really thought we should just send in ground troops to overthrow the government of any country that posed a "threat" to our interests, or our allies' interests, anywhere, anytime. You don't hear too much about his "Rogue State Rollback" policy during this election, do you? Sounded like a great idea in 1999, I guess.

[ashling]

4. I have been saying that for a while, too.

When he does stray from the party line, the press buys in to this whole straight talk crap. There is nothing "straight talk" about him. He is as conniving and deceitful as any of them ... only moreso in that he does it in his "maverick" coccoon. He is and always has been an opportunist.

[Overseas]

5. Of course he's a fake but he has cultivated the media for over 20 years

He's been their pal. Made himself available. That's apparently enough to get the media to use your own branding of "maverick" even when your voting records don't support that.

[seasat]

6. He's a Shetland pony on stilts

FiveThirtyEight.com posted a link to a professor who uses a very analytical approach to determine who is the most liberal in congress. In the 107th congress right after he lost to Bush, McCain was 57th out of 102 with one being most liberal. However the next three congresses he ranked 96.5/100, 100/101, and 94/101. In other words, he's only a maverick when he's pissed off. Normally he's one of the most conservative senators in congress.