#20: Everything That Happens In This Video

Disagreeing with your running mate, reading a vast number of news sources, tackling climate change no matter who's causing it, opposing the morning after pill, respecting science, and tolerating the choice to be gay. Wow, there's a lot of Maverick behavior on display here.

#19: Voting Against Funding Troops

Vets for Freedom has a new ad that admonishes Obama for voting against funding our troops (in a bill that would not set a timeline for withdrawal). But Obama's not the only man running for president who voted against funding. John McCain, lover of all things military, must be a Maverick. He also voted against funding troops... because the bill did contain a timeline.

#18: Funny Jokes About Age

This one comes from Maverick Sarah Palin. Funny...



Watch CBS Videos Online

#17: Disorderly Cow-like Behavior

This lady is a Maverick.

#16: Somali Pirates

According to this (un)intentionally hilarious article in the New York Times, Somali Pirates are really challenging the traditional notion of how pirates are supposed to behave. These pirates are Mavericks not only because they attack ships on the high seas, but because they are just so honest:

“We just saw a big ship,” the pirates’ spokesman, Sugule Ali, told The New York Times. “So we stopped it.”

The pirates quickly learned, though, that their booty was an estimated $30 million worth of heavy weaponry, heading for Kenya or Sudan, depending on whom you ask.

In a 45-minute-long interview, Mr. Sugule expounded on everything from what the pirates want — “just money” — to why they were doing this — “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters” — to what they eat — rice, meat, bread, spaghetti, “you know, normal human-being food.”

#15: Voting Based on "Hurt Feelings"

It may not be putting "Country First", but voting based "hurt feelings" is definitely Maverick.

#14: Assuming the Best

A lot of pundits are predicting embarrassing failure for Sarah Palin in Thursday's VP debate. Thankfully, Maverick David Axelrod can set everyone straight. The Caucus reports:

“I think that if you go back and look at the debates that Governor Palin’s had as a candidate, she’s very skilled and she’ll be well-prepared,” Mr. Axelrod said on Mr. Biden’s plane Sunday night. “As you saw at the convention she can be very good. So, I think it would be foolish to assume that this isn’t going to be a really challenging debate. We’re preparing for that, on that assumption.”

#13: Calling "Gotcha!"

"Look," he said during a joint interview with Palin on CBS Evening News. "I understand this day and age gotcha-journalism. Is that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn't hear...the question very well, you don't know the context of the conversation. Grab a phrase."
He then added, "Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country."


A real Maverick calls "Gotcha!" when they're in a tight spot.



Watch CBS Videos Online

#12: Prematurely Taking Credit

McCain Saves Wall Street and Main Street! That's the headline the McCain camp was hoping for when he claimed credit for uniting Congress behind a victorious bail-out bill. Politico reports:

“I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now,” McCain told a rally in Columbus, Ohio. “Sen. Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn't want to get involved. Then he was monitoring the situation.”
McCain, grinning, flashed a sarcastic thumbs up.

“That's not leadership. That's watching from the sidelines,” he added to cheers and applause.

What a Maverick!

#11: Barney Frank

"Many of us feel that the national interest requires us to do something which is, in many ways, unpopular," said Rep. Barney Frank, the Financial Services Committee chairman. Too bad nobody listened to this Maverick.

#10: Shotgun Weddings

When you get pregnant before you're married, it's very important to have the wedding as soon as possible. According to the Times of London, a "McCain insider" said, “It would be fantastic. You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.” A pre-election wedding? Now that would be Maverick.


"I feel like I'm in a soap opera here."

#9: Gambling

Can you be the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs committee and a lifelong gambler? Sure you can, if you're a Maverick. From today's New York Times:

A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.

#8: Hipsters

I can't believe I didn't think of this one sooner. They actively search out the status quo and do the exact opposite, for no other reason than to be different. Hipsters are the ultimate Mavericks.


Remember this?
The Burg

#7: Chuckling About Serious Issues

The various problems of this country and this world are hilarious! Most people take a somber and serious tone when discussing these issues. Not John McCain, because he's a Maverick.

#6: Dolphins

Are they fish? Are they mammals? They don't make it so easy to tell. You're not quite sure where they're coming from. Are they going to stay in the water, or do they have to come up for air? One thing I can tell you you is: they are Mavericks.

#5: Weezy F. Baby

#4: Declaring Future Victory

Muhammad Ali did it. Now John McCain's doing it. Both Mavericks.



*Note: This ad actually ran on WashintonPost.com this morning.

#3: Waterfall Jet Skiing

If 1995, Robert Overcracker went over Niagra Falls on a jet ski to promote homelessness awareness. His parachute failed to open and he did not survive. Thirteen years later, homelessness still exists, but this man will forever be remembered as a Maverick.

#2: Tasering Someone to Death

On Wednesday, September 24th, the New York Times reported that "A naked and apparently emotionally disturbed man fell to his death from a building ledge in Brooklyn on Wednesday after an officer shot him with a Taser stun gun." Some people think Tasers are dangerous. But not the police. Because they are Mavericks.

#1: Not Showing Up to Something Really Important

Whether it's attending your daughter's 5th birthday party, making it to a crucial job interview, or laying out your political platform in front of 100 million people, the really Maverick thing to do is skip it.