McCain's "maverick" mythos is partly pure bluff, and partly the result of how lockstep the GOP is, compared to the Democrats--a fact which, of course, is utterly obscured by the omnipresent "balance" myth, which requires, among other things, that both parties be treated as equally partisan and extreme. The pure bluff is covered by numerous bloggers noting his reversals on crucial "maverick" positions such as dissing the religious right, favoring a moderate immigration policy, and opposing torture.
But there is a bit of underlying temperamental truth there. McCain did rebel against the legacy of his father and grandfather--both admirals--and was a fairly insubordinate young officer, who left the Navy for politics at least partly because he was never going to make that rank himself. Of course, one could characterize that same temperament as "hot-headed," "erratic," "stubborn," nnd "unpredictable," as well.
But one thing a statistical view of McCain's record shows quite clearly--using figures from Progressive Punch: McCain looks a good deal more "moderate" and "independent" compared to other GOP Senators in large part because the GOP is a much more lock-step, and extreme party in the Senate than Democrats are.
This can be seen at glance in the following chart, where McCain's Progressive Punch scores are compared to the one standard deviation range of both parties, with the Democrats' range inverted (100->0, 99->1, etc.). While McCain generally shows up on the moderate side of the GOP range, he generally scores closer to the middle, and often more extreme on the Democrats' range:
One key to the McSame "Maverick" Myth is the incredible gap between the range of diversity in the two parties. The GOP is much more lock-step than the Democrats are, and as a result, McSame stands out as somewhat atypical in a way that he would not, if the Republicans were as diverse in their views as the Democrats are. This is not merely an qualitative observation on my part. It's something you can prove with cold, statistics. And that's just what I'll do on the flip, using Progressive Punch statistics.
Naturally, this sort of analysis is anathema to the Versailles media. For them, the balance myth is axiomatic. The notion that Democrats could be anything other than mirror images of the Republicans is not simply heresy, it's unthinkable. So, join me for a brief stroll through unthinkable land on the flip.
He even quoted Chris in it, towards the end, when he argued the need to challenge the 'surge is working' narrative. But I'll get to that on the flip.
What I want to do here is simply present a stripped down summary of how Holland lays things out, with a few stray observations of my own, in hopes of stimulating some creative thinking on all of our parts.
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