If by "maverick" you mean scuffing up his already pretty tarnished halo as a campaign finance reformer by doing the bidding of the big telcos to try to block net neutrality. In the wake of the FCC's decision to move forward on net neutrality rulemaking, McCain introduced legislation to prevent the FCC from doing its job.
On Thursday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) became the Republican Party’s lead man on technology issues (and probably made Glenn Beck a happy man) by introducing the "Internet Freedom Act." The legislation would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from making sure that Internet service providers don’t create a pay-for-play system where they could selectively block or slow content and applications. McCain called these net neutrality rules a "government takeover of the Internet.
Ah, it almost sounds like he's thinking of a 2012 rematch with that "government takeover" part. Of course it's ridiculous. The feds aren't going to be seizing Verizon's or AT&T's or Comcast's equipment and nationalizing it. Not that that will stop the Republicans from saying it. Or the telcos' astroturf groups that are going to redouble now their efforts now that actual net neutrality rules, and likely legislative action, is going to happen.
For the moment, though, they've just bought McCain. Literally.
McCain was the top recipient of campaign contributions from the telecom industry, taking in $894,379 in the past two years.
Even as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee from 1997 to 2001 and again from 2003 to 2005, McCain made sure to craft technology rules that benefited his campaign donors. He opposed a program designed to provide discounts to schools and libraries to connect to the Internet and supported large telecom mergers.
How depressingly predictable.