Maverick John McCain Bails Out His Old Drinking Buddy Hillary Clinton

John McCain has just come to the rescue of his old drinking buddy Hillary Clinton, bucking his colleague John Cornyn by calling for an immediate voice vote on her confirmation as Secretary of State.

In his first maverick-y move of the 111th Congress, McCain took to the Senate floor to call for unanimous consent to skip the 4:30 p.m. roll call on her nomination.

And he pressed John Kerry, who was deeply amenable, to deal with the matter right after lunch.

“I just talked to with Sen. Cornyn and he doesn’t object,” said McCain, who once bonded on an overseas trip with Clinton by doing shots.

“Sen. Cornyn is happy to yield back time and go to a voice vote once everybody has had their chance to speak,” said spokesman Kevin McLaughlin.

So far, every Republican except Cornyn has risen to say they want her confirmed as quickly as possible.

Ahhhhh the McCain conservatives love to hate is back – turning the Senate GOP Caucus into GO-ALONG Eunuchs.

But McCain, last year’s Republican nominee for president, argued that the Senate should skip the time-consuming roll-call vote and confirm Clinton by unanimous consent. “I think the message that the American people are sending us now is they want us to work together and get to work,” McCain said.

McCain has kept a low-profile since his November loss to Obama, but has enjoyed an unusually close relationship with Obama since the election. On Monday night, Obama held a dinner in McCain’s honor, and Obama has recently consulted McCain on foreign-policy issues, including the war in Iraq.

While McCain said he had spoken with Cornyn to receive his approval for skipping the roll-call vote, McCain and Cornyn have had well-documented battles in the past, including a heated exchange in 2007 over immigration legislation .

Here is the video of Senator John Cornyn capitulating on his hold of Hillary Clinton’s confirmation as Secretary of State.

Looks like Hillary will be confirmed and sworn in by the end of the afternoon.