Maverick? Not so much.

• Position: Free Ride: John McCain and the Media - Book review

Free Ride: John McCain and the Media By David Brock and Paul Waldman. Anchor Books. 218 pages. $13.95.

Saturday Night Live made headlines when it lampooned the mainstream media's crush on Barack Obama. But a more worrisome love affair between reporters and a Presidential candidate remains hidden in plain sight. David Brock and Paul Waldman expose this in their new book, Free Ride: John McCain and the Media .

It's been a heady affair. Brock and Waldman dig up fawning quotes from veteran reporters that make you cringe: "Mr. McCain is running as the blunt anti-politician who won't lie, who won't spin" (Alison Mitchell, The New York Times ); "While most candidates talk up their chances, McCain engages in anti-spin" (Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post ); "There's something authentic about this man" (Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes ); "The press loves McCain. We're his base" (Chris Matthews, MSNBC).

The national media has consistently portrayed McCain as a straight-shooting, straight-talking, moderate, maverick reformer. But a more accurate portrait of McCain, one that examines his voting record and campaign contributions, reveals a man who flip-flops on issues, hires lobbyists to run his electoral bids, meets with regulators on behalf of friends such as Charles Keating, and isn't afraid to pimp his POW story for his own political gain.

In other words, McCain is not the "anti-politician"; he's a cunning and calculating politician, simple as that.

The Arizona Senator's reputation as a maverick is built on his stance on campaign finance reform. In 1992, he was one of three GOP Senators who joined Democrats on a vote for modest reform legislation. "The 1992 finance bill was preordained to be vetoed by [George H.W.] Bush, making it easier for McCain and his fellow Republican rebels to back it," Brock and Waldman argue.

When campaign finance reform did pass in 2002, popularly referred to as McCain-Feingold (leaving out the House sponsors of the bill, Christopher Shays and Martin Meehan), the media hailed it as an enormous victory for Americans. McCain received the lion's share of positive press coverage, since he bucked his party's leadership.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

But six years later, more money is being spent on political campaigns than ever before. "Soft money" to candidates may have been banned, but the total amount of special interest money now pouring into campaigns has actually increased. Independent 527 groups, such as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, now sling mud without tarnishing the candidate who benefits from their work. Far from removing money from politics, the McCain-Feingold...