That must bruise the ego a bit:
"Much as the crowd ate up her every word, Palin had apparently missed the real message this electoral season in Arizona: for his three decades in Congress, McCain hadn't gone with the flow enough, at least not enough to satisfy many Arizona Republicans. Why else would his rival, former congressman J.D. Hayworth, be billing himself as 'the consistent conservative'? Many of the GOP's most faithful, the kind who vote in primaries despite 115-degree heat, tired long ago of McCain the Maverick, the man who had crossed the aisle to work with Democrats on issues like immigration reform, global warming, and restricting campaign contributions. 'Maverick' is a mantle McCain no longer claims; in fact, he now denies he ever was one. 'I never considered myself a maverick,' he told me. 'I consider myself a person who serves the people of Arizona to the best of his abilities.' Yet here was Palin, urging her fans four times in 15 minutes to send McCain the Maverick back to Washington."
Is he a maverick? The overwhelming evidence, AFTER THE JUMP…
