and I approve of this message.

You can't teach a old dog new tricks.

a Maverick is really just a lost cow.

Wandering aimlessly through the sagebrush (of presidential politics).

This particular one got caught by a posse of lobbyists and neocons and branded with a big fat "R". Just another Republican.

Last week's strip was just a bit too literal for me, but this one with it's old Western metaphor is dead on. Keep 'em coming you cartooning maverick.

You can change position, 180° and it's okay - you're A Maverick™! You can contradict yourself day by day, bur hey - that's what we expect from A Maverick™! You can, after 26 years of holding one philosophy, turn on a dime - whatta Maverick™ you are!

Whether by prescience or dumb good luck (I'm with option 1 on this one), John McCain has established a reputation of - doing absolutely anything! Whatever he does, it supports his media persona, The Maverick™.

Mr. Bug is trying to make this look dumb. But it's dumb like a fox. It's all good when you're John McCain™ (a trademark of the Republican Party).

I mean, John McCain in a clown costume? Is the reader supposed to look at this and say "Ha ha, his lack of sartorial knowledge is a metaphor for his obtuse policies!" or something? Maybe I'm just thinking about this too hard.

(But there's still no denying that the guy is darn creepy when he smiles.)

He's in a clown costume because he's a maverick, and that's what mavericks do. Because it's mavratastic.

as a metaphor for him doing whatever his "supporters" tell him he needs to do to get their support. He's wearing the clown-sheriff costume because they told him to do it.

Honestly, at this point, I don't doubt that McCain would wear a clown-president costume if he thought it would help get him elected...

In some ways it's the perfect metaphor for what he's doing.

My favorite part, though, is the lipstick on the pig. Oink!

I agree whole-heartedly that McCain's smile is creepy, smarmy and appalling. Will we have to look at it until he dies? Because you know he will be smiling big-time if Obama doesn't get off his butt and start motivating this country.

...that was simply hilarious! I'm still laughing.

Keep up the good work!

the ads he's been running sure speak to the fact that any he had has gone missing! Not to mention the fact that he now employs Tucker Esckew(sp?) and Steve Skinhead Schmidt..who worked for Bush and served up the worst of the crappiest against McSellout during his previous campaigns..including the nastiest ad about Porta-Johnnie's (goes along with the crowd and is full of it)black adopted daughter. If he's sold anyone out with this, it's first and foremost, his daughter..but that doesn't seem to matter a whole lot to him. Guess they must keep her in a closet when she's not being trotted out at conventions. What a pig he is..and no amount of makeup will change that!

that this can be transformed into an animated ad? That would be perfect!

1. On Iraq, Obama said Thursday that his upcoming trip there might lead him to refine his promise to quickly remove U.S. troops from the war.

2. He now supports broader authority for the government's eavesdropping program and legal immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in it, after opposing a similar bill last year.

3. After the Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia's gun ban, the handgun-control proponent said he favors both an individual's right to own a gun as well as government's right to regulate ownership.

4. Obama became the first major-party candidate to reject public financing for the general election after earlier promises to accept it.

5. He not only embraced but promised to expand Bush's program to give more anti-poverty grants to religious groups, a split with Democratic orthodoxy.

6. He objected to the Supreme Court's decision outlawing the death penalty for child rapists, even though he has been anti-capital punishment.

Oh, wait. These aren't flip-flops, these are "refinements"

Your arguments are so easily deconstructed. Politicians say whatever will get them elected. This is nothing new or unique to any given party. Sorry to rain on your parade.

Yeah, that's "just like".

I have a ferarri I'll sell you for $20K. Of course it is actually a Yugo, but you wno't be able to tell the difference.

Thanks Bolling, now I will enjoy this perfectly good George Thorogood cover of this song once again!

Come November we TAKE BACK AMERICA

and we TAKE BACK the word MAVERICK!

= = = = = =

Who is the tall, dark stranger there?

Maverick is the name.

Ridin' the trail to who knows where,

Luck is his companion,

Gamblin' is his game.

Smooth as the handle on a gun.

Maverick is the name.

Wild as the wind in Oregon,

Blowin' up a canyon,

Easier to tame.

Riverboat, ring your bell,

Fare thee well, Annabel.

Luck is the lady that he loves the best.

Natchez to New Orleans

Livin on jacks and queens

Maverick is a legend of the west.

Riverboat, ring your bell,

Fare thee well, Annabel.

Luck is the lady that he loves the best.

Natchez to New Orleans

Livin on jacks and queens

Maverick is a legend of the west.

Maverick is a legend of the west!

> 2. He now supports broader authority for the government's eavesdropping program and legal immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in it, after opposing a similar bill last year.

Actually he still voted against the bill, he just did not help to filibuster it. He voted for cloture. I'm still pissed about this, but I don't think it means he actually supports the bill.

> 3. After the Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia's gun ban, the handgun-control proponent said he favors both an individual's right to own a gun as well as government's right to regulate ownership.

Isn't this pretty consistent with his policy? He is not anti gun, but believe that government should be able to regulate certain aspects of ownership. He might be for handgun control for major metropolises but still believe that people in the US can own guns, specially people in remote areas. Isn't his Gun policy more state/City rights, that federal mandate.

> 4. Obama became the first major-party candidate to reject public financing for the general election after earlier promises to accept it.

Yes he did this. But this isn't really the same as reversing your vote and values on torture. It was a calculated campaign decision that has nothing to do with policy, laws, or governship.

> 5. He not only embraced but promised to expand Bush's program to give more anti-poverty grants to religious groups, a split with Democratic orthodoxy.

Does this mean he flip-flopped? It just means he is not in lockstep with Democratic Party's viewpoint.