Yesterday, John McCain unveiled a disingenuous new ad touting himself as the "Original Maverick." Designed to distance himself from President Bush, the spot portrays McCain as a rebel battling the special interests in his own party. Of course, during the Republican primaries McCain was telling a much different story. Then, the original Maverick was a "True Conservative."

Desperate to win over the party's hard right base heading into Iowa and New Hampshire, McCain adopted virtually the entire Bush agenda while reversing his past criticism of the religious right. Identifying himself in one primary night speech after another as a "foot soldier" in the Reagan revolution, McCain touted his conservative credentials that featured a Senate voting record CQ gave 90% score for party unity, one aligned with President Bush 100% of the time in 2008 and 95% in the previous year.
McCain's tack to the hard right during the GOP primaries reached its apogee in his ad titled, "True Conservative." In that spot (video here), McCain portrayed himself as reliably well to the right, even on social issues:

Announcer: As a prisoner of war, John McCain was inspired by Ronald Reagan.
Mr. McCain: I enlisted as a foot soldier in the Reagan revolution.
Announcer: Guided by strong conservative principles, he'll cut wasteful spending and keep taxes low. A proud social conservative who will never waver. The leadership and experience to call for the surge strategy in Iraq that is working. John McCain: The true conservative. Ready to be commander-in-chief on Day One.

It's no wonder McCain in February announced:

"I would be proud to have President Bush campaign with me and support me in any way that he feels is appropriate. And I would appreciate it."

Alas, that was then, this is now. (Which might explain why the video for "True Conservative" is no longer featured at the McCain web site's multimedia archives. Interestingly, clicking on the YouTube video in the New York Times February 1, 2008 article about the ad produces the error message, "We're sorry, This video is no longer available.")
The GOP nomination won, John McCain began his frantic scramble back toward to the political center and away from George W. Bush and the festering carcass of the Republican Party. His senior adviser Charlie Black gave a hint of centrist things to come with his laughable pronouncement last month that his man was "slight right of center."
Which brings us to McCain's new ad unveiled yesterday, titled "Broken." Gone is any talk of loyalty to the ideals of the Republican Party. And to be sure, McCain's past praise for the "great progress economically" of the Bush years is also conveniently forgotten.

ANNOUNCER: Washington's broken. John McCain knows it. We're worse off than we were four years ago.
Only McCain has taken on big tobacco, drug companies, fought corruption in both parties. He'll reform Wall Street, battle Big Oil, make America prosper again.
He's the original maverick.
One is ready to lead -- McCain.

Today, the multimillionaire husband of a beer heiress rolled out another ad, this time snarkily asking about Barack Obama, "Is the biggest celebrity in the world ready to help your family?" For his part, John McCain is offering a tax plan that would help his own family to the tune of over $370,000 a year.
So the question remains, which John McCain is running for President? The "true conservative" or the populist maverick? Or to harken back to the old TV game show, What's My Line, will the real John McCain please stand up?