Make-Believe Maverick

This morning I happened across the Rolling Stone article on Grampaw McSame, and while it is fairly long, it's well worth the read.

Make-Believe Maverick by Tim Dickinson pretty much eviscerates the shaky claims that somehow McCain is some kind of maverick, willing to stand up to his own party, vote for the nation's interests over his own, blah blah blah.

The whole "maverick" thing was pretty much made up out of whole cloth by McCain himself, aided and abetted by his servile lackeys in the media, whose approval and friendship he coolly cultivated over the years.

This story gives us the complete McCain, from his pampered existence as the son and grandson of admirals to his ordinary and not heroic behavior as a POW. It also shows how carefully he has created and recreated his myth over the years. This was a reckless hotshot of a pilot who nearly caused an international incident in Spain when he flew so low he clipped some power lines, whose irresponsible behavior would have resulted in an immediate transfer from the air to the surface navy for anyone except this "golden boy".

In short, the McCain story parallels in so many ways the Fortunate Son saga of George W. Bush that it's kind of scary, in a "history repeats itself" kind of way.

Read it. It's a great insight into the man who would be king president. Plus it's enough to scare your socks off if you think there's a chance he could actually win steal the election.