Maverickiness – Angry Senator edition

Well by now I could have spent most of my time on the recent Maverickiness of John McCain, however, they have been all to painfully obvious to anyone paying attention to his say one thing let the campaign do the opposite spiel for the last two weeks. What he did yesterday on the floor of the Senate takes the cake for sheer Maverickiness, and it wasn't his vote. The whole article is fascinating, but check out this nugget:

As the two shared the Senate floor tonight for the first time since they won their party nominations, Obama stood chatting with Democrats on his side of the aisle, and McCain stood on the Republican side of the aisle. So Obama crossed over into enemy territory. He walked over to where McCain was chatting with Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida and Independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut. And he stretched out his arm and offered his hand to McCain. McCain shook it, but with a “go away” look that no one could miss. He tried his best not to even look at Obama. Finally, with a tight smile, McCain managed a greeting: “Good to see you.” Obama got the message. He shook hands with Martinez and Lieberman — both of whom greeted him more warmly — and quickly beat a retreat back to the Democratic side.

JMM and Sully react.

And did I miss something with yesterday's vote because I don't remember McCain letting me know the name of the Senators who attached pork to the bill. Heck, if he can't do it as a Senator, how can I trust it that he will do it as president?

Oh, and with the vote yesterday McCain did cast his first votes since....(wait for it)...April. (He voted FOUR times yesterday.) So perhaps today is a triple dip of Maverickiness. Maybe he should have announced that he "suspended" his Senate duties in the spring. Granted Obama's voting record is not sterling, but at least he doesn't keep trotting out the notion that he "Puts America first." Personally, I think doing your job if you are an elected United States Senator is putting America first, especially since his wife does own a private jet that can fly him to Washington to vote.* The voting record for McCain since April 8 is 4 votes cast out of a possible 93 &ndash that is he voted a mavericky 4.3% of the time. Obama's voting record over the same period is 22/93 (or 23.7%). And just for the sake of completeness of my last post of their respective propensity to not vote, since March 14 McCain has voted 5 out of a possible 104 (or 4.8%). That my friends is Maverickiness we can believe in.


_John

*Yes, I know some of the votes were merely procedural, but we are paying him to do his job.

image: from Stephen Crowley/The New York Times