McMaverick

McCain already caused controversy last week by voting AGAINST banning waterboarding, after being one of the most outspoken critics of the current administration's policy of torture. This is an interesting little article from The New Republic amusingly titleed "Maverick vs. Iceman" discussing why we maybe shouldn't be that surprised:

The prevalent view of McCain is that he is a generally conservative figure with a few maverick stances and an unwavering authenticity. Nearly every liberal editorial board that has made a Republican endorsement has chosen McCain, and nearly all have offered variations on the same theme. "Voters may disagree with his policies, but few doubt his sincerity," editorialized The Boston Globe. "The Arizona senator's conservatism is, if not always to our liking, at least genuine," concluded the Los Angeles Times. This is the consensus: McCain's basically a right-winger, but at least you know where he stands.

Actually, this assessment gets McCain almost totally backward. He has diverged wildly and repeatedly from conservative orthodoxy, but he has also reinvented himself so completely that it has become nearly impossible to figure out what he really believes.

UPDATE: Nicholas Kristof writes about "The World's Worst Panderer"