Now here's the problem with the McCain-as-Maverick approach....inasmuch as it depends on separating McCain from Bush.
He's letting Karl Rove and Phil Gramm campaign for him. Karl Rove, who is presently in contempt of Congress for refusing to appear, and whose contempt for the Constitution guided Bush into his own flagrant dismissals of same. Phil Gramm who is, next to maybe Newt Gingrich, one of the most rabid of that type of Republican (Gramm's another one who just couldn't manage to bring himself to go into the military before or during 'Nam, because it would be a waste of his talents. So he said himself.)
In other words, "Maverick" or not, voters are getting the same-old same-old right wing Republican machine, the machine designed, set in motion, and guided by the likes of Gingrich, Rove, and Gramm....you don't get Rove and Gramm backing you unless you're...what's a delicate way to say this?...beholden to them.
Want change? Don't vote for a self-proclaimed Maverick.