McCain Regrets Choosing Sarah Palin As His Running Mate
Wishes he had chosen Joe Lieberman instead
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has written his memoirs, the upcoming book entitled The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and other Appreciations. As has become increasingly usual, portions of the book are being released prior to its publication.
The New York Times is reporting that McCain writes that he regrets selecting then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) as his running mate. Instead, he wishes he had “followed his gut” and chosen then-Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT).
Yet many in Mr. McCain’s own party believe that, by selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, he bears at least a small measure of blame for unleashing the forces of grievance politics and nativism within the Republican Party.
While he continues to defend Ms. Palin’s performance, Mr. McCain uses the documentary and the book to unburden himself about not selecting Mr. Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent, as his running mate.
He recalls that his advisers warned him that picking a vice-presidential candidate who caucused with Democrats and supported abortion rights would divide Republicans and doom his chances.
“It was sound advice that I could reason for myself,” he writes. “But my gut told me to ignore it and I wish I had.”
This is such a bizarre statement. While I like and even admire Lieberman, a left-leaning centrist brought onto a right-leaning centrist’s presidential ticket would have been a disaster even back in ’08.
Before making his announcement of Palin’s addition to his ticket, McCain’s campaign was stalled. He was doing everything wrong, and there was no enthusiasm at all among Republican voters. President Bush, you may recall, was leaving office with truly abysmal numbers: at one point, his approval was just 25%. McCain, though he tried to distance himself from Bush, was tied to him by his own voting record in the Senate.
Between his campaign bleeding aides and even his campaign manager and his confounding refusal to address Obama’s many many weaknesses and scandalous associations, McCain was on the fast-track to an historic drubbing.
It wasn’t until McCain named Palin as his VP that he took the lead against Obama for the first time. A lot has happened since then, but flash back to 2008 and Palin’s acceptance of the Vice Presidential spot on the Republican ticket.
To this day I remember watching it and literally jumping up off my couch shouting “Yeah!” and clapping my hands together and beaming with joy. I hadn’t leaped off my couch in response to a speech before and haven’t since. She was electrifying.
Watch:
Everyone knew she was a game changer for McCain’s flailing presidential campaign. She can barely start her speech because the convention was so enthusiastic and joyous. And the left was mortified.
As we later learned, the leftist media was so deeply concerned about Palin that they ramped up Journolist to brainstorm ways of bringing her down. What followed was one of the most vile, disgusting smear campaigns in recent memory, and it was rooted in their admiration of Palin.
The Daily Caller reported in 2010:
Sarah Palin’s speech to the 2008 Republican convention impressed more than a few doubters, including even some members of Journolist, an online community for liberal journalists.
“This speech is gangbusters,” wrote Ari Melber of the Nation. “Her tone is pitch perfect.” Adele Stan of the Media Consortium agreed: “Palin is golden.”
While LI had not yet been founded at the time, the prof had some choice words about the coordinated media attacks on Palin:
Erick Erickson: “moving on from Sarah Palin is like leaving Scientology”
I’ve posted repeatedly that Palin holds a special position because there is no one — not even George W. Bush — who has been the subject of the Democratic, mainstream media and left-blogosphere smear machine to the extent Palin has.
If you have noticed, I am very intolerant of cheap shots and snide comments directed at Sarah Palin, particularly when those cheap shots and snide comments come from conservative bloggers and Republican politicians.
Perhaps I react this way because when Palin Derangement Syndrome first struck this blog was not yet established, and I just stewed. In many ways, PDS — along with Obamamania — was the motivating factor in my creating this blog in October 2008.
Palin was frustrated with the McCain campaign because after she injected a much-needed boost they refused to let her speak her mind about Obama.
Real Clear Politics reported in 2013:
SARAH PALIN: We show what happened, back in 2008, I believe that’s when it started, when the media decided to just go along to get along with Obama, ingratiating themselves with him and vice versa. What we saw was these attempts to destroy these whistleblowers, those who were telling the truth, even in the campaign. Those who were bringing up the name Jeremiah Wright and the racist church he leads that Obama was a member of for over 20 years.
Though I was during the campaign running for VP, I was banned from talking about Jeremiah Wright and Obama’s friend, Bill Ayers, the character that he befriended and kicked off his political campaign in the guy’s living room. Couldn’t talk about that. Couldn’t talk about Obama’s lack of knowledge and job experience and the things that he said like America had 57 states, things like that.
In the campaign, Greta, this is important for Americans to understand. I was not allowed to talk about things like that because those elitists, those who are the brainiacs in the GOP machine running John McCain’s campaign at the time said that the media would eat us alive if we brought up these things. So what did that get us? That got us this kind of complacency and self-censoring of a campaign where we weren’t allowed to tell the truth about who this kind candidate was, Barack Obama. What it got us was a list of these scandals. This is kind of a redneck version of one of those elitist tactics of Karl Rove, how he uses his white board. This a redneck version of a whiteboard. And on this list, the scandals that are destroying America, Greta.
Watch:
In light of the eventual outcome of the 2008 election, McCain regrets choosing Palin and thinks he should have selected Lieberman. The problem with that, however, is that it was Palin who stepped up and made his campaign even remotely viable. Lieberman would have been fine and steady, but he would never have salvaged McCain’s campaign against Obama, only Palin could have done that . . . had she been permitted to do so.
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Comments
Many of us voted for McCain because of Palin.
That was gonna be my comment too. If not for Palin, I would not have voted in ’08
Sarah is more man than McCain will ever be!
Me too. I didn’t vote for McCain; I voted for Palin, and put up with the fact that my vote would count for McCain as well. If it were possible to vote for Palin without McCain I would have done so.
I voted for Palin. I was hoping that McCain would drop dead right after getting elected.
Ditto.
I always thought McCain was too invested in being popular with his fellow ruling caste class members and less invested in representing his voters.
And the drive to “get” Palin via smears and attacks IMHO marks the start of our current “by any means Neccesary” politics and news coverage. Fairness and truth had nothing to do with the relentless attacks on Palin, and it always seemed to me McCain and his campaign staff were cheering it on because they were in a snit over the VP candidate having better numbers than the good senator.
Just one example : the whole effort to portray Palin as corrupt. She entered politics by exposing how the Alaska Oil Fund was being treated as personal petty cash by the Dems and Reps running it. This caused quite a few (R)s who resented the loss of income to caucus with fellow corrupt pols among the (D)s. Then when she was accused of violating the law by requesting re-opening a look at a police officer accused of stalking and spousal abuse – based on it’s appearance as a sham investigation – the outcrys were amazing. Yes, she heard of the case because the purported victim in fear of her life was a distant relative. No, that doesn’t mean she can’t even ask for an impartial second look.
And when the Corruption Caucus of (D)s and (R)s votes to condemn her actions here, that does not constitute proof that she’s a corrupt official herself. But all the press repeated was “Palin condemned by (R) majority legislature – never bothering to give the background that the vote passed because (R)s upset with her shutting down THEIR graft caucused with and voted with the minority (D)s in this matter.
Not a distant relative. It was a very close relative: her sister-in-law. But so what? Are politicians supposed to ignore their relatives’ problems?! Are the close relatives of politicians to get worse protection of the law than anyone else, because it would be “corrupt” for their relative to help them?!
Actually, her sister’s ex-husband, Officer ? Wooten.
Fascinating full circle, her sister and ex-husband’s daughter, McKinley Wooten, is now Miss Teen Alaska and is competing for Miss Teen USA on May 21, I think. Check Sarah Palin’s Facebook page for links to local media stories on McKinley Wooten, Palin’s niece.
I’ve always despised McCain. He’s the swamp that needs to be drained from DC. McCain was the only bright spot on his ticket.
Excuse me… PALIN was the only bright spot on his ticket.
Don’t you just detest the lack of an edit function?
Just the fact he turned on Palin at this late hour is exactly the kind of behavior that made McCain enemies in the Republican base.
His choice to embrace Palin gave him a viability and credibility he would not be the kind of President that flipped off his base and it resulted in the base turning out.
If McCain picked a Democrat for VP he would have done the UTLIMATE middle finger to the base and it would have been a worse loss than it was.
Regrets, I have had a few, too…such as voting for McCain.
Does McCain regret throwing the election to Zerobama?
both McLaim and the great almost Sen from Utah threw their elections to zero.
I can only think that they were afraid of being called Rayzists.
Palin was kept from a larger role in McCain’s potus run to prevent shameing the war prisoner role.
Trump’s comments about McCain being considered a “HERO” was because he was a POW.
as an aside McCain did deserve credit for not allowing the Vietnamese getting leverage in releasing a high level POW, when he refused release until ALL POWs were released –
BUT if it was a political ploy for a future office, well ….
”…he refused release until ALL POWs were released –”
Had he done otherwise, he would have been subject to a court-martial upon his return.
Oh, and we still have John McCain to thank for still inflicting on us the healthcare trajectory of Alfie.
Lifelong conservative, couldn’t even bring myself to hold my nose to vote for the guy.
McCain’s parting shot…. further fracturing the fault line between GOPe and GOP/Conservatives. So much for “healing the rift”.
“RINO” is too kind a description. Maybe “COVDEM” as in covert Democrat.
McCain is gambling on “being on the right side of history”. Who would think John Kerry and John McCain share more than first names in the end?
Its amazing the losers weve been forced to support as republicans. McCain only got as far as he did because of Palin
Palin was a blessing – and a curse.
She motivated the Conservative base and balanced out the imbalance of McCain but she also was low hanging fruit for the corrupt MSM who slimed her with great enthusiasm.
Lieberman MAY have been more electable and I think he is a sensible guy but in the end the MSM would probably have slimed him, too, in support of Barry.
I knew there was something seriously wrong with the McCain campaign when it threw Bill Cunningham under the bus for telling the truth about Barry at a Cincinnati rally.
Dream on if you though McCain could carry it. Yea, Lieberman was probably more conservative than Palin
2008 Elector Votes
Barack Obama (D) 365
John McCain (R) 173
2012
Barack Obama (332) Mitt Romney 206
2016
Donald Trump (R) 304
Hillary Clinton (D) 227
McCain lost it and I think he lost it on purpose. Actually WSJ had Palin as a great pick for VP.
BTW:
Trump won with more popular votes 62,984,828 than any Republican winning the Presidential Election ever.
What is scary is there are over 20 M more votes per election year since 2000. Where did these 20M votes come from?
McCain was the problem, too bad he is not man enough to admit that.
Also in other news – the Jacobin’s favorite guy Kristol has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar funding GPS Fusion. McCain started this mess and the Dems just picked up where he left off.
Correction “more conservative than McCain” not Palin
Where did I say I thought McCain could “carry it”?
I said Lieberman “may” have made the ticket more electable. Maybe not.
Even though Barry wasn’t exposed as the fraudulent Jackass that he is at the time – I still voted against him and for McCain because I will always vote against Leftists. And McCain – idiot that he is – would not have harmed the country as much as Barry and his group of Leftist Hacks did, IMO
The population is growing, plus black people who had never bothered voting before got on board for 0bama.
They did and I think BLM and the Confederate Statue Hysteria and other Random Crap was an attempt by the Leftists – aided by the MSM – to keep them on board.
Hogg is out of the same chapter of the playbook, just a different page.
IMO
By all means put up monuments to traitorous losers. I say leave them up, but add statues to Lincoln, Grant & Sherman. Put some up showing slaves being whipped. How about something dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen? How about Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner?
They just opened up a museum to Lynching. Do you think there will be an article in here – unless they can find something to sneer at.
Wow, this is easily your worst troll yet. It’s not only wildly off-topic and completely incoherent but laughably wrong. Do you really not know that there are already monuments to the Tuskegee airmen, to Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman? How is that even possible? How can you NOT know that? How can you NOT know that there are already memorials for Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner? Honestly, you are one of the worst trolls in the history of trolling trolls. So sad, too, because I love a good troll.
Once again, the paid commie troll proves the ignorance of everybody in his workplace.
See if you can get your supervisor to look over your shoulder.
Oh, you did?
Well, I did say everybody.
And there are no objections to those statues. Nobody at all is protesting them or demanding their removal.
20 Million more black people voted? Nope, I don’t think so. That increase is reflect in 2008, 2012 and 2016. There is more to it than that.
I do believe there was an increase in black and possible more younger votes, but not 20 M. That is like 16% of the vote.
The population is growing. It’s a simple fact.
That is a 16% increase! That converts to a higher percentage of the population because of the non-voters. Was there a minor baby boon that happened? Here is what the Pew Research says:
If current trends continue, the population of the United States will rise to 438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005, and 82% of the increase will be due to immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their U.S.-born descendants, according to new projections developed by the Pew Research Center.
Of the 117 million people added to the population during this period due to the effect of new immigration, 67 million will be the immigrants themselves and 50 million will be their U.S.-born children or grandchildren.
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/02/11/us-population-projections-2005-2050/
I think it is population migration to the US not growth.
I think we are being taken over.
That is population growth. People are moving here and becoming American, and having American children.
Uh-huh. Repudiate the best political move he ever made. A loser right to the end.
Being a citizen of NY I knew my vote really wouldn’t make a dent in the election, but it was still extremely difficult to pull the lever for McCain, the only thing that justified me voting Republican for that Presidential election was Palin on the ticket.
Had McCain chosen Lieberman I would have left that vote vacant. I think a large number of Republican voters were not voting for McCain, but either voting against Obama – who should never have been elected even once, let alone twice – or were voting for Palin. McCain’s chances rose after selecting her.
This, along with his vindictiveness with regards to him wanting Pence to attend his funeral, but not Trump, show the man is not an honorable one. His holding his seat till he dies, which could be fairly soon, rather than stepping aside and allowing for a replacement who will do the job, shows his disregard for this country and his over inflated view of himself.
McCain also has his hands dirty with the Steele Dossier.
McCain had to have been one of the worst choices to lead the Republican ticket. Obama was a poor choice, but through affirmative action type thinking, it would have taken a good candidate to beat the lightweight Senator. There were so many issues with Obama as a candidate that McCain never touched on. Palin did as best she could to expose Duh One for who and what he was, but when the top of the ticket doesn’t it just became a point of mockery for the media.
I’d have voted for the Constitution Party candidate. They really ought cross endorse Trump for 2020. Trump appears to be following the document more closely than his last few predecessors.
Oh, you noticed? I was beginning to think I was the only one.
Actually that is not a good example. He’s doing the GOP a favor by holding on till at least the end of May. If he resigns or dies before then his replacement will have to run for reelection this year, which would be risky. If he holds out till June his replacement won’t have to face the voters until 2020.
The bastard will probably hang on and screw us one more time by dying 2 days before the cutoff date.
And once dead, I’m sure he’s found some way to screw us even after he’s gone.
McCain-Lieberman: a Democrat dream ticket.
Particularly by running Obama against it. McCain would have gone down as the lowest vote percentage of any Republican candidate ever.
I voted for Palin.
I regret that he chose her as well, and that Palin accepted it. Neither of them made a good decision, because she was not the right fit for a weathervaning milquetoast like him, and she should have been astute enough to avoid association with McCain.
If Palin had declined, she would have had a more successful political career. She could have finished out her term as governor and then run for the House or Senate to represent Alaska and made a contribution in Congress. By aligning herself with the McDoom, she hurt her career.
McCain should make arrangements for scuppers on his grave to match his headstone.
Beg to differ. She came out of 2008 looking great. What did her in was her decision to knuckle under to the legal persecution and resign. I understand why she felt she had no choice in the matter, that there was simply nothing else she could do, and she may even have been right, but that is ultimately what made her underqualified to run in 2012, and irrelevant by 2016. Braving out her term might have been bad for Alaska and disastrous for her staff, but it would have been good for her subsequent career. I suppose the fact that she put them ahead of herself is one more sign of what a classy person she is.
Alaska has some very hard core Leftists who know how to game the laws in the State to compromise sitting political opponents. Example, a ethics complaint was filed with the State when Palin wore an Arctic Cat jacket to start of Iron Dog in which her husband was competing using an Arctic Cat snowmachine. Plenty more examples.
In issues dealing with promoting more free enterprise up here I personally found her very good when I had to visit Juneau and interface with the Governor’s office.
Palin has gotten a lot of grief up here by the very rabid Left. Alaska has Lefties that are bluer then the bluest iceberg.
Indeed. But all those complaints could have been dealt with, if not for the ethics panel’s decision finding her guilty of one offense — accepting donations for her and her staff’s defense. That put her in a really Kafkaesque situation. All the other complaints were dismissed, but only because she put up a defense, which would have been impossible without those donations. And while she had a house and a businesss she could use to pay for her own defense if necessary, her staffers were getting the same treatment and they didn’t.
From one point of view, it was poetic justice, because it was her own fault that this insanely strict ethics law had been passed in the first place. One could say that she didn’t take care to prevent other people from being put in this impossible situation, so it came back and bit her.
The other consideration that made her resign was that even if she and her staff could successfully defend themselves from all the accusations, and even if they could afford to pay for it out of their own pockets, the defense was taking up 100% of their time, and they had none left for governing the state.
Still, in hindsight I think it would have been better to stick it out, challenge the ban on accepting donations for legal expenses as a violation of due process, insist on the prosecution of those making charges in bad faith, and insist that the ethics commission could consume no more than, say, five hours a week of her time; and take all this directly to the people, refusing to cooperate with the persecutors. If it resulted in her impeachment, wear that as a badge of honor and fight it at the next election.
I regret the Republican party ever associated itself with McCain. The sooner a real conservative takes his place, the better.
NOT just a conservative, but an American Patriot. Even the communists have ‘conservatives’.
If he had picked Lieberman he’s have really found out how easy it is for conservative voters to stay home on election day.
I really would not call Trump a conservative and actually would move Joe a nich to the right of Trump.
The way the media (and the GOPe) have treated Sarah Palin is really unforgivable.
He did far more damage to her career than she ever did to his. She is the one who should have regrets about hooking up with a loser.
John McCain is a guy who did something very noble when he was a young man and then spent the rest of his life making up for it.
An accurate observation with only one thought lacking… Palin has the potential to heal, while McCain is tied up in chains of his own bitterness and will never heal.
I’d wager that more regretted the McCain half of the ticket than the Palin half.
I voted very much FOR Sarah, and over the head of McAnus.
She represented a lot of actual stuff with which Duh Donald is credited falsely. She was a lot more moderate than a pure conservative, but she was GOOD, and she had a record of fighting a corrupt machine successfully, bringing in both sides to get good things done.
I had every reason to hope she’d drag POTUS in a radically different direction as pertains to the size and scope of the central government.
The trouble with someone who is as vilified as Palin was is that it pushes people into extreme camps. She does become a person who is defended as an icon, when she’s always just a person and no more above criticism than any of us. Erickson was right, and he was just reporting what his experiences had been.
Rags, you wrote: “I voted very much FOR Sarah, and over the head of McAnus.”
Me, too.
Though because I was living in Massachusetts at the time (which went for Hillary in the Democrat primaries), my vote didn’t really matter. Knowing that, I was going to leave the top spot blank until Sarah came along. Then I voted for her.
You mentioned once in a post that you dole out comments fairly regarding Trump, in both directions. I read recently, in Huff Post no less, how Trump is stacking federal courts with conservatives. Respectfully, I am serious when I say, did I miss praises for that? He has de-regulated to the benefit of small businesses, as I understand it. He got under the skin of the so-called journalists and exposes them time and again for their biases. They continuously get ahead of themselves and have misreported to a high degree. The reporters have demeaned the presidency in their own way.
JFK committed an adulterous affair with a depressed, suicidal actress who eventually died from an overdose. On the other hand, “Stormy” allegedly had a one night stand is storming the country gaining more attention, and probably more money, than ever before. How she can prove damages is an interesting question.
Well, sorta…
I mentioned that I have credited Duh Donald where it was due.
His deferring to the Federalist Society respecting judicial appointments is one such area. A lot of his nominations have been very good. Some have been stinking. I rate his nominations as a credit.
I don’t think I’ve ever claimed anything a nebulous as “fairness”.
The rest of what you say is argument. I’ll respectfully disagree with all of it, though not on what you relate but on the merits (as in de-regulation in the net when he’s imposed a vast market distortion via his tariffs).
Kennedy was a pig. So? Is that how you defend another pig? To use a Palinism, I refudiate them both!
I paraphrased, maybe poorly, but I appreciate your answer. I have not heard much about the tariffs lately, more about Stormy Daniels taking time out of her busy schedule to supposedly school Rosanne, with writers ignoring Roseann’s comeback “follow @StormyDaniels so u can stay informed of what’s important in our country! thanks!” A big reason why Roseanne became a fan of Trump can be explained by a Townhall piece, completely ignored by the media and should lead to a hat tip by you:
“As a strong advocate for sex crime victims, I’ve been closely following the pedophile arrests since Trump took office. There have been a staggering 1,500-plus arrests in one short month; compare that to less than 400 sex trafficking-related arrests in 2014 according to the FBI.”
Sarah headlining at Mar-a-Lago:
“Just days ago I was out plowing snow. I was chopping wood,” Palin told the crowd. “And I was — I kid you not — cooking caribou stew. Just like all of you, making a meal for the family. I just have to shoot it first.”
Love her.
I watched the recording of that Mar-a-Lago appearance and those stuffy dinner guests were abominably rude to her, IMO. Twice she made jokes to try to get them to listen to her, but they jabbered right over her talk. Was a great speech, though, and I hope she has another opportunity to give it, to a much wider and more polite audience.
Perhaps as soon as this Thursday, May 10, at her event with Diamond and Silk at the Trump International Hotel in DC (D and S introduced her at that Mar-a-Lago speech and were first interviewed by her back in August 2016 when she guest hosted a week of shows on OANN).
I didn’t have the right to vote in 2008, but I sure resent that the GOP picked McCain as their candidate. The result was 8 years of the worst President ever.
Unlike 2016, it was a year of slim pickin’s. I was on Team Fred for lack of a compelling alternative.
I hope the Navy refuses giving him a military funeral. He should have been doing life in Leavenworth instead in the halls of Congress.
Maybe they’ll do a practice bombing run instead of a flyover.
That is kind of silly.
The guy served honorably and was a POW.
Can’t take that away from him because you disagree with his politics.
IMO
I hear what you’re saying, but his behavior in his later years has been truly awful, and he never had sense enough to hire a legislative aide: that is, someone who can read and write legislation, which is the work product of a US Senator.
Would you say that about benedict arnold? Or barack obama?Or john kerry?
Not too silly considering that McCain is making his funeral into an opportunity to insult the President. Yes, he has the right to do that, but the Navy and the rest of the government ought not be party to such an insult.
I understand why he regrets the decision. From the perspective of 10 years later, the difference between a respectable loss and a landslide is no longer significant. Knowing in hindsight that he was going to lose anyway, he wishes he’d run with his friend whom he respects and likes, even if it would have added at least 10 points to the margin of his loss, rather than with this odd conservative person who was everything he was not, whom he despised, and whom he was only using to gain votes.
I see your point here, but I can’t help but think that a McCain-Lieberman ticket would have been a complete blow-out for Obama . . . on the scale of Nixon’s humiliating defeat of McGovern.
Had Hillary Clinton cinched the ’08 Dem nomination, McCain-Palin would most likely have won, even with the beating Palin took from the leftstream media.
But it was Obama, and he was the Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm god, Teh One, receder of oceans, healer of planets, hoper of hope and changer of change . . .
I agree. I thought Leiberman was a man of class but he is not a Republican and would not have been a reasonable counterweight to how squishy McCain was. If he had been the VP candidate I would have left the lever unpulled.
Yes, that was the best political speech I can remember ever hearing. And the fact that she did it with a malfunctioning teleprompter made it even better.
I have a hard time talking about McCain. My husband has no kind words. McCain was tortured and was never going to be right. I did not appreciate what Trump said during the campaign, but fighting words are mild compared to the years of torture. Being a POW does not mean an automatic bid, and I do not agree with so much of his time in government, but I cannot bring myself to malign him. He will soon meet his Judge.
And I liked Palin. She was viscously attacked in an unconscionable way.
If he had it to do over again he’d have gone with the democrat. It fits.
Senile old traitor believes he was the draw on the ticket.
We watched the institutional Left destroy Sarah Palin out of fear. We watched the establishment “conservative” journos in DC sit on their hands instead of typing to defend her against the onslaught. Do you think these same “conservatives” wonder why we don’t care what they say about Trump? Or conservatism, for that matter.
He doesn’t “regret” choosing Sarah Palin. He deliberately chose her and then had his campaign destroy her.
McCain is garbage.
He’s been my senator, and has consistently been useless and ineffective, in addition to violating large campaign promises (Obamacare repeal).
He has a terrible reputation in AZ, and the worst office to deal with – responses are rare, and calls and inquiries never returned.
Good riddance.
McCain regrets choosing Palin, but I’ll bet not as much as Palin regrets accepting.
McCain is a petty, little man, and a stain on the GOP fabric.
A sell-out, backstabbing little affirmative action jerk: but for his admiral father, the little rat would have never made it as a fighter pilot. But for McCain’s tiny character, he would have been a peer to the other POWs he was locked up with, instead of being the pathetic American amongst them.
He exploited his POW status, and became the worst rat of a GOPe senator this side of flake, corker and mcconnell.
Hopefully obama will delivery the eulogy, teleprompter and all. McCain doesn’t deserve any better.
I wish he had picked Lieberman as well, just so his sorry ass would have been beaten even worse.
As a military veteran I have a certain base respect for McCain but this is beyond reprehensible. This is a new low. Anyone with any character, ethics or morals would never trash the person who they selected. What he’s really saying is that he was too weak to act on his own beliefs and that tells you more about him than anything else.
The answer, of course, is that McCain is not a member of the Republican party, he’s a member of the McCain party, who just happens to be a Republican.
Every action he makes is calculated with one simple rule in his mind: Will this make John McCain look good?
Picking Palin was an example. She’s an inexperienced politician, female, former Governor, and would help him pick up conservative votes without getting out there and being too vocal, and thereby drawing attention away from John McCain. The problem was (in his mind) that she promptly got *too* much attention that should have properly been going to John McCain. So instead of supporting her (and making Palin’s star rise higher), he resorted to back-biting and negative comments. In effect, he ran against Palin on the right and Obama on the left.
OK, let’s be honest. McCain wishes that he had picked either the top or the bottom of the waitress sandwich; Ted Kennedy or Christopher Dodd. They match the character and ideology he aspires to.
I remember when Sarah Palin was first announced as the VP candidate. It was so unexpected that the Democrat noise machine fell silent for the better part of an hour. Obama supporters had already been conditioned to take their marching orders and talking points directly from the Obama campaign via social media.
Until the Obama brain-trust told the Democrat voters what to think, they just sat there waiting, like robots with no programming.
The first person from the Obama campaign to make a statement was Ben Rhodes, and he called her a “small town mayor.” Within days the people who would eventually declare themselves to be
“NeverTrump” were joining their leftist friends in attacking Palin, but only in whispers. In 2008 the GOPe was not yet in a declared blood feud with the GOP base.
BS. The eventual “Never Trump” conservatives welcomed Palin and defended her against all the attacks, because she, unlike Trump, was conservative.
Not just whispered, sometimes captured on mic, such as Peggy Noonan’s captured epithet when she thought her mic was off. Which was Disgraceful.
The thing I like most about Sarah Palin is that the woman reads. It is patently obvious that, when she writes about something in a document, she has read it, and even thought about it. How wonderfully refreshing!
But, but, but she couldn’t name the specific newspaper she gets her information from. She said she reads “all of them” — can you believe it? Next you’ll tell me she’s read more than one book! (Which reminds me of that other supposed illiterate W Bush, and his reading list).
Bury the rat somewhere in Syria, where he belongs.
It wasn’t difficult to see, as the 2008 campaign progressed, that Obama was going to win the election. I wondered, more than once, whether McCain really wanted to win the election. I knew Sarah Palin did. And, it was why I voted for her.
As well, as was taught that if a person knows he’s dying, he ought to make peace with God. And, he can’t have peace with God unless he has peace with his fellow man. From what I’ve heard about his attitude toward President Trump and Palin, it doesn’t sound like he’s interested in peace with either one of them. So, …
I was thinking about John McCain…what exactly are we seeing here, other than another ‘Hillary If-Only’ list of proclamations?
Mr. McCain cannot accept the fact that he was wrong in most of his views and decisions. His character is anchored to the thought that he is always right, always sees a clearer vision, always know the correct path to take…followed by the failure that attends hubris. Hubris, the main factor that caused Hillary to self-destruct. Hillary; all that money and all those ‘contacts’ could not overcome her arrogant hubris. Americans who were tied to reality hates her…and John McCain too, BTW.
…and then there is the ‘guilty conscious’ factor that comes into play; unless he really is a total psychopath as some believe. He has been running really hard from his enemy, not understanding that he’s his own worse enemy. Sarah Palin was a gem, very similar to President Trump in some ways, until McCain decided to destroy her and his own attempt at the presidency in the process. I doubt he understood just what a patriot she was; which is anathema to a politician, until after the GOP convention. What a total loser!
McCain is one of those “leaders” whose powers of persuasion are limited to telling his own side to compromise and surrender. He used to talk a good conservative game but when push comes to shove there is no conservative issue that he won’t run away from.
Always for the best of reasons, of course.
Like a lot of people with excess hubris, McCain forgot Nemesis was watching and waiting. Sarah Palin is still young, and Nemesis might not be finished with him yet.
McCain was a wealthy senator who thought he knew the answers. He did know the answers but from a top 1% perspective. He should have confronted Obama with everything he had as Trump confronted Clinton. Palen was right. McCain should have allowed her to attack Obama’s faults. Instead McCain negotiated himself out of the presidency but who cares, he was so much like Obama it didn’t matter.
The Songbird is a douchebag til the end. I find it amusing that McStain laments the selection of Palin but let me say if Palin had not been on the ticket the RINO phuck wouldn’t have gotten hardly any votes. I voted for Palin, not this prick.
And I suspect she regrets running with that backstabber as well.
I voted for McCain but only because he picked Sarah as his running mate. I still believe she would have made a great president but like Trump she received much fire from demoRats and other jealous Republicans. John you could have just not said anything.
Well, I regret voting for McCain. If it weren’t for Palin being on the ticket, I would have voted third party.
It sounds like McCain regrets that he didn’t lose more spectacularly.
Due to the financial crisis & Iraq, The democrats were going to win the white house. It didnt matter if the Democrats nominated Ghegis Khan or Hillary.
Ronald Reagan II was going to lose to Hillary in 2008.
mcCain crying about his running mate, just tells us how bad McCain is suffering from reality
McCain lost because he looked senile and crazy during the campaign. Picking Palin didn’t help. Even she was surprised. I like her, but she was an easy target for Tina Fey and the rest of the far left socialists.
McCain/Palin was my first vote as a citizen. I don’t regret voting for him because an R is always better than a D. McCain is a traitor to us Rs though, and how he let Palin get treated appalled me. Especially, once the election was over. He claims his military service but it didn’t seem to make him manly. Men don’t blame their #2 for their failures. Only weasels do that. He’s pathetic today, just like he’s been since losing the white house for us in 2008.
PALIN had nothing to do with McCain losing the election. His having a personality like a wet rag had EVERYTHING to do with it. Palin is the only reason he got he votes he did get. And now blaming Palin just shows that it was a good decision not to put him in the White House. He is the biggest RINO in the entire party! And he is a pathetic excuse for a soldier!
I wholeheartedly regret that McCain was the Republican nominee and I wholeheartedly regret that McCain is a senator. He is a nasty man.
AMEN!
Sarah is more man than McCain will ever be!
In 2008, Presidential candidates from both parties were awful.
I demand a do-over.
Went to the campaign headquarters and made sure they understood my donation was because of Sarah Palin.
McCain is said to be planning his funeral. Mom always said not to say anything if you couldn’t say something nice.
………
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
1. John McCain’s father was a Navy admiral.
2. Navy John McCain disobeyed orders – flew his jet in a no-fly area.
3. John McCain’s plane was shot down. The Navy rescued him.
4. John McCain was not reprimanded (See: Father)
5. John McCain again flew jet in no-fly area.
6. John McCain has “father” issues.
This time John McCain was not rescued.
This time John McCain was captured.
This time both of John McCain’s arms broken.
This time captors pulled John McCain to shore by his broken arms.
7. John McCain was held prisoner for 5 years.
8. Upon release John McCain divorced his wife, mother of his children.
9. John McCain married, Cindy, wealthy daughter of beer distributor.
10. John McCain elected U.S.Rep.
11. John McCain elected U.S. Sen.
12. John McCain defeated in Presidential bid.
You forgot to mention that he was sleeping with Cindy while he was still married to the wife who had faithfully waited for him all those years, only to have him dump her for no reason but her looks.
Lesson: marry Cindy.
From what I remember there were lines of people waiting to hear Palin give her stump speeches but McCain didn’t have that problem. She was the only interesting thing about his whole campaign.
What is the point of trashing Palin? She fought for him in the election and now he pisses on her. Too bad McLain was a Presidential candidate and a Senator.
“What is the point of trashing Palin?”
because he is a petty backstabbing traitorous wretch of a man.
Even on his deathbed he is a nasty sob.
They forgot to mention how McCain freaked out about the financial debacle, and told Obama that they both needed to suspend the campaign, and work on legislation in Washington. Whereupon Obama said, “you need to be able to do more than one thing at the same time.“ Obama refused to go to Washington. McCain look very weak.
Sorry to tell you this but you Crash McCain were the weak part of the ticket. You and Mitt decided not to say anything bad about Obama, paving his way to the Whitehouse.
Wanna know why her own party didn’t give her the proper platform and support they gave McSame, Mittens et al?…..like Trump, she doesn’t march to the beat of the GOPee pee country club boys.
Plain is the only reason that election wasn’t a blow out.
And Mits campaign was an abysmal failure. Obutthead should’ve been a 1 term “president”!
(president used loosely for the SERIAL LYING FRAUD).