Representation

Things in the Grand Old Party get a little confusing sometimes. At least they do from my perspective. This is a group of politicians who have designated an elephant as their mascot. For some reason, the Oakland Athletics and the Crimson Tide of Alabama have adopted the same beast to represent them, seemingly without connection to the the original team names. I know that we can blame a cartoonist, Thomas Nast, for the Republican's elephant, the Athletics were once considered a "white elephant," and the Crimson Tide might have something to do with a Steely Dan song but more likely it's a Groucho Marx line about "Tuscaloosa" that brought a pachyderm to Alabama's sideline.
None of which explains Mavericks. Or Wacko birds. My recent obsession with all things McCain continues this week with the story of John McCain, the Maverick Elephant, and Ted Cruz. A couple of months ago, Maverick called Cruz a "wacko bird." To be fair, it would seem that Senator McCain was also referencing Senator Rand Paul and Representative Justin Amash when he flung this particular epithet, and he has since apologized for having done so. But it does seem odd that there wasn't a more meaningful connection between John and Ted. See if you can follow my reasoning: John McCain was a fighter pilot, the kind of guy that was depicted in the film "Top Gun." That film's main character went by the call-sign "Maverick." He was played by none other than Tom Cruise. Get it?
These guys don't. Cruz now says that he is embarrassed that he supported McCain for president in 2008. Not that this is an exclusive club, but The Cruiser added this: “I think the Republican Party lost its way. We didn’t stand for the principles we’re supposed to believe in.” Those core principles we all know and cherish, such as learning how to draw water up into their trunk and then pour it into the mouth, eating an extremely varied vegetarian diet, including grass, leaves, twigs, bark, fruit and seed pods, and frequently touching and caressing one another and entwining their trunks. That's what we expect from Republicans, after all.