Grasping the broom of reform

From a fundraising e-mail, John McCain makes a ham-handed attempt at branding his candidacy as the agent of conservative reform. How legitimate are this 70 year-old, fourth-term senator's claims to the mantle of maverick outsider? You be the judge:

Whether it is fear about the threat of terrorism, frustration over gridlock in Iraq, anger about out of control government spending in Washington, or concern about the future of social security, Americans recognize that the status quo is not acceptable and the need for straight talk and reform has never been greater. Americans are right; but only together can we bring about the common sense conservative reforms our country so badly needs.

So let's see: stoking fear for political purposes, check; grossly misinterpreting the public's frustrations with the Iraq war, check (the answer to "gridlock" in Iraq? McCain-style bipartisanship, or as he more delicately put it, "stop the bullshit"); self-righteous indignation about a problem your party created, check; and finally, crazy devotion to zombie ideological pet project, check.

Candidate of conservative reform? I'll give him the conservative part (and getting more conservative by the day), but a reformer? You've got to be kidding.