Politickled.com

I have been so intrigued and confused by the prolific use of the word ‘maverick’ in so many descriptions of John McCain that I had to look it up again just to make sure that I did know the proper definition. 

Turns out there are a couple of definitions that makes things a bit more clear for me:

http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=maverick.

“S: (n) maverick, rebel (someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action)

S: (n) maverick (an unbranded range animal (especially a stray calf); belongs to the first person who puts a brand on it)”

Based on McCain’s flip-flop voting record, his ability to vote with Bush 95% of the time in 2007 and most recently his selection of a right-wing pro-life, pro-gun candidates as his VP, I am guessing that most uses of the word “maverick” have been the latter.  Finally…a definition that makes sense.

Footnotes:

1)      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ira-forman/mccains-record-of-flip-fl_b_110526.html

2)      http://mccainsource.com/mccain_fact_check?id=0015