Jackson Free Press logo

This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

OXFORD—A succinct blog post, but I’m pretty sure John McCain just managed to fit the word “maverick” four times in a single sentence. Impressive. You know what type of person takes such superfluous freedom with the English language? A maverick type of person, that’s who.

-Bryan Doyle

Previous Comments

Maury Maverick (1895–1954), US congressman from Texas, coined the word “gobbledygook”.

#138310 | Author: WMartin | Date: Sep 27 2008

I can’t believe how many times he said “Reagan,” and condescended to Obama “not understanding” or being “naive.” What a jerk he was. And he never once looked him in the face or called him by name. That feels creepy to me.

#138315 | Author: DonnaLadd | Date: Sep 27 2008

What I’m going to need you to do is have that sentence diagrammed and online post-haste.

#138350 | Author: vince | Date: Sep 28 2008

MFP Solutions Lab logo

The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.