Maverick he is not.

I've tried to not get sucked in too much to the lifestyle of a typical Washingtonian where government and political rhetoric replace genuine conversation. But a showdown between Biden and the gosh darn beauty queen from energy-producing Alaska was just too good.

I applaud Biden for being a good sport and playing nice - he really went easy on her. But even more, I applaud the moment when he finally called Palin out on the 427th time she called McCain a maverick. In case you missed it, I copied an excerpt from the transcript of last night's debate. I love Palin's face reacting to this oral bitch-slap, the internal commentary no doubt along the lines of "wait, they didn't teach me a script for this one... gosh darn it. it's ok, just smile and wink..."



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.