They wouldn’t be too far off the mark on recasting him as another Bush (especially on illegal immigration and his support for the war):

John McCain has a reputation as a straight-talking maverick who appeals to the independent voters who can tip the balance in this fall’s presidential election.
Democrats don’t want to run against that John McCain. They hope to introduce a different McCain: a war-hungry flip-flopper who offers nothing more than a third term for George W. Bush.
”We’ve got to define him . . . undermine his image of being a maverick,” said John Lapp, a Democratic strategist who’s unaffiliated with any presidential campaign. “Before he gets the Republican Death Star behind him, before he gets moneyed up, we’ve got to kill this guy in the crib.”

That doesn’t sound like the new tone of the new politics where we reach out in love and our common bond.(via)