Sarah Palin is reportedly upset over Senator John McCain's (R-AZ) confession that he regrets choosing her as his running mate in the 2008 presidential race. Palin, who left her Alaska governorship to join the Republican ticket, told The Daily Mail that it feels like a "perpetual gut-punch" when she hears McCain speak unfondly of his decision to nominate her.
McCain has been absent from the Senate due to a battle with brain cancer. The 81-year-old Senator's new book, The Restless Wave, details how McCain chose Palin due to pressure from his campaign staff. His ideal choice was then-Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), who had run on the Democratic ticket in 2000 with former Vice President Al Gore.
"That’s not what Sen. McCain has told me all these years, as he's apologized to me repeatedly for the people who ran his campaign," Palin said. "It's not a real fun thing that part of my job is the requirement – is having to read the news every day."
Palin told the Daily Mail that she wants to hear McCain himself express his regret directly to her, rather than reading about it in a book or hearing about it from campaign staff, whom she says are the true beholders of the negative memories.
I attribute a lot of what we're hearing and reading regarding McCain's statements to his ghostwriter or ghostwriters. I don't know all the details of his condition right now. It happens to me also where people speak for me and a bell is rung, and you can't un-ring the bell.
Palin also recalled instances in which McCain would apologize to her for the poor treatment she received from Republican Party elites. "I stop him all the time and say, 'please don't apologize.'" Palin offered a new style of politics—she was the plain-spoken, caribou-hunting, frontier hockey mom espousing small-town populism.
Palin added that apologizing for losing the race was also a moot point, as the landslide victory of Barack Obama was all but inevitable.
There were elements of a perfect storm for Barack Obama to have been elected. It worked out the way that it was supposed to work out
But, as political relationships often go, McCain and Palin appear to have remained friends in the years since their 2008 electoral defeat.
In spite of everything that has erupted in these past days with his spokesperson – or perhaps he himself – saying that he regrets that they chose me to run on their ticket. Despite all that, he has been my friend.
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