We’ve known ever since the GOP convention that the McCain camp were going to lay it on pretty thick with this ‘maverick’ schtick of theirs.  One boon of the selection of Palin as McCain’s neophyte acolyte running-mate is that she seems ready to endlessly reiterate it without any trace of irony or self-loathing.

Palin managed to use the word six times in the VP debate.  Not to be outdone, Joe Biden threw it back at her a whole NINE times, mainly in the course of the following rebuttal to Palin’s suggestion that she and McCain were, after all ‘a couple of mavericks’:

What I liked about Biden here is that he not only categorically refutes the factual accuracy of the ‘maverick’ moniker, but appears to feel almost bad for Palin that she’s been sent out to mix it with him armed with nothing better than the kind of pea-brained sloganeering more suited to an aspiring class president.

A quick look at Twitter’s ever-enjoyable election channel showed that one particular association was coming through strong, not necessarily in the way that Senator McCain might have intended.

With the campaigns having turned properly nasty over the last day or two, it will be interesting to see who, if anybody, revives this tainted motif.

Unless some GOP egghead reprogrammes Palin she’ll likely regurgitate it ad infinitum as she runs the gamut of local rallies drumming up the kind of indignant national pride fascism is made of.

I can’t quite see McCain picking it up again though.  Far more likely that Obama finds an opportunity in tomorrow’s debate to taunt him with it, as a reminder to all of us that we shouldn’t write cheques our bodies can’t cash.