The Arizona Republic explains the reality the DC media establishment tries to ignore:

Over the years, Sen. John McCain has publicly condemned Republican Party leaders and occasionally voted against the GOP on selected issues.

But an Arizona Republic analysis of his Senate votes on the most divided issues in the past decade shows that McCain almost never thwarted his party's objectives.

As Paul Waldman reported, "What do you know? An article that actually takes a feature of the McCain image, and -- hold on to your hats -- attempts to ascertain whether it's true. I'm floored."

In the article, Keith Poole, a political scientist at the University of California-San Diego, added, "He is a conservative who votes conservative on most issues. By no means is he a liberal or even a moderate."