I am old enough to remember there was a TV Western show by the name. James Garner was his typical aw shucks light hearted kind of guy, if I recollect the show correctly.

I noticed Palin use the phrase a couple of times last night. Hard to miss actually. Biden's comments about McCain in that regard aside, I wonder just what it means, really, and is it the quality that we need in the White House.

The more I think about it, the more I think not. The maverick, fighter pilot instincts of McCain were in prominent display when he "suspended" his campaign last week while the financial debacle was at version 1.5.

He (and Obama) have largely had little to do with how Congress is dealing with this matter, and his "suspension" was Pyhrric.

I don't see much display of ideas that are out of the box, merely a reputation for a style McCain has of not always kow towing to what the leaders call for. It one thing to question the conventional wisdom, it is another to offer up out of the box ideas that suggest a person of some thought, initiative and intellectual integrity. I have an open mind about this, but I don't see a great deal of information being offered that there are "maverick" ideas in this candidate. Just a maverick style. Shrub re-packaged, if you will.

I also wonder if a maverick is what we need in a Chief Executive. The word suggests to me compulsive, inconsistent, not grounded.

I hope Sarah Palin keeps using the word. Given her rapidly declining gravitas, she will quickly turn it into a joke word that no one can take seriously, even if they understood what it really means. Whic I don't in this context.

Can't wait to see Tina Fey's Saturday Night Live rendition of Maverick tomorrow night.