Word used way too many times by
Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah
Palin to describe herself and John
McCain, but Mavericks they are not.
PALIN: "...And John McCain has been the consummate maverick in the Senate over all these years..."
BIDEN: I'll be very brief. Can I respond to that?
Look, the maverick -- let's talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives.
He voted four out of five times for George
Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.
He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against -- he voted including another 3.6 million
children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate.
He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to
college.
He's not been a maverick on the
war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.
Can we send -- can we get Mom's MRI? Can we send Mary back to
school next semester? We can't -- we can't make it. How are we going to
heat the -- heat the
house this
winter?
He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the
winter.
So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.