In a June 16 Washington Times article headlined “Maverick McCain bedevils Democrats,” reporter Joseph Curl wrote that Sen. John McCain “bucked his party” when he “joined forces with a liberal leader, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, via the McCain-Kennedy bill to overhaul immigration” and asserted that “some say those against-the-grain transgressions could help more than harm Mr. McCain.” However, the article did not mention that McCain now says he would no longer support the immigration bill he co-authored if it came to a vote on the Senate floor.

The Times itself has previously reported on what it described as McCain's “flip-flops” to more closely align himself with the base of the Republican Party by changing his positions on taxes and immigration. In an October 31, 2007, article headlined "McCain caters to GOP voters," the Times' Stephen Dinan reported: “Sen. John McCain has quietly been piling up flip-flops, including ditching his long-held support for the Law of the Sea convention and telling bloggers he now opposes the DREAM Act to legalize illegal alien students. ... Republican primary voters tilt to the right, and the sea treaty is another example of Mr. McCain veering to try to align himself with them, recanting positions along the way on immigration, tax cuts and campaign-finance reform.” Dinan further reported: “Mr. McCain's list [of flip-flops] is growing fast -- possibly because he brings a longer record -- and is coming on signature issues that bear his name, such as the McCain-Kennedy immigration proposal.”

Dinan also wrote: “The problem for Mr. McCain, says one Republican strategist unaffiliated with any campaign, is that his appeal to voters is based on his willingness to stick to his own convictions.”

Nonetheless, Curl wrote in his June 16 article that McCain “has returned this cycle with much of his maverick image intact.”

From Curl's June 16 Washington Times article:

But Mr. McCain also has bucked his party often, and on several high-profile issues. He attached his name to McCain-Feingold, a campaign-finance reform bill co-authored by Sen. Russ Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat, that Republicans opposed. He also joined forces with a liberal leader, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, via the McCain-Kennedy bill to overhaul immigration. Many Republicans opposed the bill.

Still, some say those against-the-grain transgressions could help more than harm Mr. McCain.