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One of the interesting sidenotes in the press's infatuation with John McCain is that the very behavior that gets him labeled a "maverick" would get most other politicians labeled "unprincipled." Via Brendan Nyhan comes this bit from the Poole-Rosenthal rankings of ideology:
John McCain (R-AZ), normally one of the very most conservative members of the Senate, has been the worst fitting member of the Senate in each of his eight Senates, most notably the 103rd (2001-02), where he frequently voted with the Democrats, perhaps in pique over losing the race for the presidential nomination in 2000. [...] John McCain (R-AZ) started as a conservative, became a moderate after losing the Republican nomination to George Bush in 2000, and recently reemerged as very conservative.Matt notes that this just further proves McCain's utter absence of interest in domestic policy, and that's true enough. But it also proves his interest in popularity. If you look at where McCain's made his "maverick" moves -- campaign finance reform, global warming, etc -- they're very popular. If you look at where he's swung back to the right, it is, again, in areas that are popular with conservatives, who happen to be the constituency he needed to be popular with in order to win the presidency. Indeed, stories abound from the 2000 campaign of McCain changing his mind on policy questions because he'd talk to someone who didn't like his position, or feel the disappointment of the press. The dude just wants to be liked! But flip-flopping on various positions in order to improve one's public standing is normally something that exposes the media's self-righteous streak. Because they like McCain, however, they changed the adjective "unprincipled" into "unpredictable," and made it a virtue.
