Huffpost Politics
Edition: U.S.
THE BLOG

Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors

Hot on the Blog
Jan Herman Headshot
Become a fan

Arts and Culture Writer

McCain the McMaverick, a 'Hood Ornament'

Posted: Updated:

I've been calling him the Gasbag, but Thomas Frank has come up with another description for him -- the best I've read anywhere: John McCain is "a hood ornament on a hit-and-run machine."

Frank writes in his weekly Wall Street Journal column:

The man no longer stands for anything. He has transformed himself from a maverick into a cipher, a hood ornament on a hit-and-run machine. He has no more political content now than the constantly changing cast of cynical right-wingers aboard his campaign plane.

Did the Hood Ornament ever stand for anything? I don't think so, unless it was the BananaRepublic. Was he ever a maverick? McMaverick is more like it. But never mind. The headline on Frank's column — "The Audacity of Nope" — deserves a tip of the hat, too.