A new profile in New York magazine gives a hard look at John McCain, describing him as someone still angry over the 2008 presidential election, at odds with his “Frankenstein monster” Sarah Palin, and unsure how to save his political identity.

“It has been a very strange season in the political career of John McCain,” the piece by Joe Hagan states. “The former maverick who once fought his own party on everything from tax cuts to torture, who built a reputation as a prickly independent, now marches in lockstep with his party, from his objection to Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court appointment to his support of a draconian new immigration law in Arizona that would have repulsed him three years ago. When Newsweek asked him whether a maverick would take such positions, he responded that he'd never considered himself a maverick. It all seemed to defy logic.”

It later adds, “In a world where the economy was in turmoil and populist anger was percolating, Obama's suggestion looked to McCain more like an invitation to political self-immolation, especially in Arizona, where McCain faced a reelection campaign in 2010 with a volatile electorate sliding toward tea-party politics. The exchange stoked lingering feelings over all that had happened in 2008: the economic collapse that stole his thunder, the bickering in his campaign, the press's abandoning him, how the choice of Sarah Palin threw his judgment into question. He sees Obama less as the leader of all the people than a man who beat him, with a few lucky breaks. 'He's angry at Obama, at former staff, at his family life, at his fellow Americans,' says a veteran Republican strategist who has worked closely with McCain. 'He's angry.'”