the maverick myth

while the mccain campaign launches headlong into 100% negative campaigning for the next 30 days – attempting once again to find an indelible link between 60's radical william ayers and barack obama (something even the new york times had a hard time coming up with, concluding "the two men do not appear to have been close") – a new rolling stone article debunks mccain's maverick title by, get this, actually talking to people who know him:

"(The maverick title is) a myth McCain has cultivated throughout his decades in Washington. But during the course of this year's campaign, the mask has slipped. 'Let's face it,' says Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. 'John McCain made his reputation on the fact that he doesn't bend his principles for politics. That's just not true.' "

the article, which reads like historical biography, digs way, way deep into mccain's past and includes fascinating and extremely telling details of his time as a prisoner of war, his failed first marriage, his wealthy second wife, the keating five scandal, and his hot-headed temperament.

it's a must read.