Originally published in the NY Times but picked up by Tacoma News Tribune is a story about the real Maverick family and how they feel about McCain and Palin calling themselves mavericks. It's really a rather humorous story.
"I’m just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick," said Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.
Don't you love it? Progressive politics!
And a little bit of history about the term "maverick":
In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Maverick said. Unbranded cattle, then, were called "Maverick’s." The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand.
So I guess this is why McCain thinks he is a maverick. But wait, there's more.
This Maverick’s son, Maury Jr., was a firebrand civil libertarian and lawyer who defended draft resisters, atheists and others scorned by society. He served in the Texas Legislature during the McCarthy era and wrote fiery columns for The San Antonio Express-News. His final column, published on Feb. 2, 2003, just after he died at 82, was an attack on the coming war in Iraq.
Terrellita Maverick, sister of Maury Jr., is a member emeritus of the board of the San Antonio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.
Ha-ha, drawing a connection between mavericks and civil liberties. McCain, watch out. There's more.
Considering the family’s history of progressive ideals, it should come as no surprise that Maverick insists that John McCain, who has voted so often with his party, "is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase."
"It’s just incredible – the nerve! – to suggest that he’s not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, ‘Oh, my God, he said it again.’
"He’s a Republican," she said. "He’s branded."
I love it. There's no way he's a maverick. He's branded.
So with this fun news of the day I will leave you with a clip from the TV show The Maverick. Guess I never watched it much because I didn't remember the theme song.