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Granpa McWAR has enjoyed a reputation in The Village as a "maverick" and a "straight-talker" and that has obscured the fact that he really is a wingnut who is out of step with the majority of Americans. Media Matters has been trying to call attention to this discrepancy and now it seems that the "librul" media is catching on. Quaid is wrong about the reason McWAR is thought of as an independent but I'll give her some slack because she is trying to get the facts out.

McCain More Conservative Than His Image
Apr 14, 4:01 AM (ET)
By LIBBY QUAID


WASHINGTON (AP) - The independent label sticks to John McCain because he antagonizes fellow Republicans and likes to work with Democrats.

But a different label applies to his actual record: conservative.

The likely Republican presidential nominee is much more conservative than voters appear to realize. McCain leans to the right on issue after issue, not just on the Iraq war but also on abortion, gay rights, gun control and other issues that matter to his party's social conservatives.

On the right and across the political spectrum, McCain's image, rather than his positions on issues, seems to form people's opinion of him. Indeed, in choosing presidents, voters often look past issues to character and personality, and most individual issues are unlikely to mean much.