“Maverick” was a phrase the media used for Lowell Weicker. He voted against the GOP ninety percent of the time and called himself “the turd in the punchbowl,” during Reagan’s time.
There is history behind the term. And Leiberman beat Weicker after being endorsed by William F. Buckley Jr.
The word has many connotations, not just the one we know. It is an animal that doesn’t follow the herd, as well as the term you know...