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Sometimes a nickname just
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sticks.
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The maverick maverick maverick
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maverick everyone knows is a maverick.
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Here comes the maverick.
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Despite being a lifelong conservative
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Arizona Senator John McCain was
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never afraid to go against the grain.
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But he said he never considered
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himself a maverick.
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This is not a not a label he
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really embraced all the time
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not being a maverick.
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But I liked standing up for what
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I believe.
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This is how a war hero
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and a career politician learned to
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march to the beat of his own drum.
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Much to the chagrin of his own party
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John McCain had a reputation
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as a bit of a bad boy
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and he wasn't always the best student when
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he was in the U.S.
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Naval Academy in Annapolis
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LOreal SEO covered McCain mostly
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in the 80s.
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McCain crashed a few planes
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and he graduated fifth from the bottom
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of his class.
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1967 was a very tough
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year for McCain.
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Within one month of active duty in the Navy
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he suffered injuries from a massive fire
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onboard the USS Forrestal in the
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Gulf of Tonkin.
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134 sailors died
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in the tragedy
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and John only 30 at the time
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narrowly averted Death himself.
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Only three months later McCain was
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shot down over North Vietnam
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and taken prisoner in Hanoi where
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he was held in solitary tortured
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and beaten repeatedly for years.
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McCain's time as a prisoner of war left
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him permanently disabled unable
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to lift his arms above his head.
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McCain returned to the U.S. a war
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hero
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and he decided to get involved in politics.
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He ran for the U.S.
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House in 1982
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and won.
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In 1986 he ran for the U.S.
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Senate and won that seat as well.
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But McCain's first term became embroiled
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in what came to be known as the Keating Five
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scandal where he
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and four the lawmakers were accused of improperly
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intervening in a probe by federal regulators
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to help. Charles Keating CEO
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of Lincoln Savings
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and Loan Association.
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After a slap on the wrist
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and a slightly tarnished reputation
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McCain bounced back by reaching across
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the aisle on campaign finance reform
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with Democrat Russ Feingold.
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He successfully sponsored a major
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overhaul of the campaign finance system.
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Despite the objections of Republican
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leaders
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after serving over 10 years in Congress
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McCain decided to run for the top job
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himself.
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During the 2000 Republican presidential
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primaries McCain took some
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unorthodox stances saying
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some things that Republicans are really never
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supposed to say such as.
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I'm deeply concerned about a kind
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of class warfare that's going on right now.
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It's unfortunate.
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There's a growing gap between the haves
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and have nots in America
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and I'm not sure we need to give
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two thirds of that tax
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cut of that money to the
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wealthiest 10 percent of America
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McCain's defeat in the primaries didn't stop
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him from resisting Bush's platform.
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During his presidency
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Senator McCain infuriated
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many fellow Republicans by opposing
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President George W.
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Bush's tax cuts
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and also by cosponsoring
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legislation that would provide
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a path to citizenship for undocumented
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immigrants.
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He was also alone in his party
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to speak out against so-called enhanced
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interrogation techniques after 9/11.
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McCain's captors in Vietnam coerced
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a false confession from him so he
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believed perhaps more strongly than anyone
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that torture did not work.
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By 2008 his reputation
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of a maverick became a full fledged brand
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something he embraced wholeheartedly for
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his second presidential bid.
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I'm a maverick.
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I've been called a maverick.
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He's the original maverick.
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I think I'm going to have to cast
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my vote for the maverick.
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Now we're called a team of mavericks.
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But it quickly became clear that Sarah Palin
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was a different kind of maverick
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the one that probably didn't help
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his campaign.
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One of his biggest regrets he says
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in his new book was choosing Sarah
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Palin as his running mate over
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one of his best friends in the Senate Joe
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Lieberman.
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But there was another way McCain's maverick
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ways defied his own interests during
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his failed bid for the White House.
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We're scared of an Obama presidency.
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He resisted demagoguery
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and insisted that his supporters
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respect Barack Obama.
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I have to tell you he is
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a decent person
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and a person that you do
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not have to be scared
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as a United States now.
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Change has come to America.
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Unfortunately John McCain
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couldn't make it recently
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claimed that he had never identified himself
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as a maverick.
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And we all know what happens in Arizona
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when you don't have ID.
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McCain was a tough critic of Obama's administration.
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But along the way he insisted on open
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debate and decorum
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and he reached across the aisle on issues
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like immigration reform
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then Trump happened.
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That is some group of people thousands.
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Suffice it to say their intra party
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relations left something to be desired.
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Despite this McCain did insist
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on supporting Trump as the Republican nominee.
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The best thing to do is put it
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behind us
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and move forward until
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THIS at which point
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McCain withdrew his support
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for Donald Trump's presidency.
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McCain's resistance to Trump continued
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right into the presidency.
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Senator McCain has stood out
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by his willingness to oppose
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President Trump.
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Other Republicans have been much more
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willing to march in lockstep
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with President
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Then one fateful summer night on the
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Senate floor.
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After just being diagnosed
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with brain cancer Sen.
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John McCain made an appearance
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to cast the deciding vote against
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the Republican effort to repeal
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Obamacare.
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But it was a stunning vote in a very
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dramatic night in the Senate chamber.
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Except for one senator
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who came into a room at three o'clock
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in the morning and went like that we
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would have had health care too.
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While he continues to fight his brain cancer
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McCain has been preparing for his eventual
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passing
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but jabs from the White House have
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not relented.
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A top White House communications aide
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mocks Senator John McCain's brain
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cancer diagnosis.
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The White House still refusing to apologize
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for that crass comment about Sen.
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John McCain ill
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will between Trump
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and McCain has gotten to such a pitch that
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McCain has let it be
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known through a news report that he would
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rather Trump not attend his funeral.
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Let that sink in for a second.
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A lifelong Senator uninviting
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the sitting president of the United States
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of the same party to his own
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funeral.
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Now if that is not a maverick
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nothing is.