Maverick Family to McCain – “Go to Hell”

Ahh, sometimes it feels really, really good to unabashedly revel in the complete unravelling of another person. A recent New York Times article has brought to light a story that indulges in that completely juvenile impulse we all have to push our enemies in the mud and laugh. Oh, how we’ll laugh.

It appears that the Maverick family, a brood whose political geneology is traceable back to the 1600’s, would like John McCain and Sarah Palin to please stop using the family’s last name in their campaign for the White House.

The term Maverick came about in the 1800’s when Samual Augustus Maverick began cattle ranching in Texas, and was the only rancher at the time not to brand his cattle. “He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called ‘Maverick’s.’”

The term jumped from literal to figurative as the Maverick family progressed in politics and became know for their staunch opposition to the federal government, and spent much of their political power defending “draft resisters, athiests, and others scorned by society”

The Maverick’s have been “firebrand libertarians” for much of their recent history.

The New York Times article is very brief, and explains much of what I just did. It ends with this lovely set of phrases:

“Considering the family’s long history of association with liberalism and progressive ideals, it should come as no surprise that Ms. 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.’

~ by Reno on October 9, 2008.