CNN's McIntyre the latest to call McCain a "maverick"

On the February 1 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre joined the ranks of MSNBC's Chris Matthews, National Journal's The Hotline editor in chief Chuck Todd, Washington Post staff writer Anne E. Kornblut, and Wall Street Journal national political editor John Harwood in baselessly calling Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) a "maverick." McIntyre was reporting on the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nomination of Gen. George W. Casey, the outgoing top U.S. commander in Iraq, to be Army chief of staff. McIntyre said: "The case against Casey was laid out in prosecutorial style by maverick Republican John McCain, who slammed the outgoing Iraq commander's past rosy predictions and his reluctance to call for reinforcements while Iraq descended into chaos." However, as Media Matters for America has documented, McCain has himself issued rosy predictions and praised the administration's Iraq war strategy since Casey assumed his post in July 2004.

From the February 1 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight:

McINTYRE: Well, Lou, Casey admitted that things in Iraq had not worked out the way he predicted. In his words, "Not where I thought I would be when I was walking out the door." But while he accepted responsibility, he offered no apology.

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The case against Casey was laid out in prosecutorial style by maverick Republican John McCain, who slammed the outgoing Iraq commander's past rosy predictions and his reluctance to call for reinforcements while Iraq descended into chaos.

McCAIN: I question seriously the judgment was that was employed in your execution of your responsibilities in Iraq. And we have paid a very, very heavy price in American blood and treasure because of what is now agreed to by literally everyone as a failed policy.

McINTYRE: Casey's critics fault him for failing to adapt as the war took a turn for the worse and only asking for more troops in December, after President Bush ordered an overhaul of Iraq's strategy.