you lose track of which cliché is operational at a given moment. >> politicians are very good at marketing themselves, as well. >> branding. >> most just stick with i'm the maverick. you just get the sense with john mccain he doesn't give a damn, he is what he wants to be at that moment. >> he is. it's also calculating. we have to remember that he is a politician as much as he tries to be an anti-politician. and the media is complicit in this. we deal with the shorthand mythologies which descends into shorthand caricature. i wanted to step back and look at an extraordinary american career and life and a pretty poignant moment in which there are obviously big forces competing for the soul of the republican party and also with the administration. and i think he's right in the middle of it. >> does john mccain have a point when he says he was a maverick