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Amid glowing tributes to the life and career of Arizona Senator John McCain on Monday, MSNBC took time to use the Republican lawmaker’s passing to trash his 2008 vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin, labeling McCain’s selection of the then-Alaska governor as his “biggest political mistake.” “McCain made some controversial decisions, some much-criticized decisions. One of those decisions was who he chose to run with in 2008, Sarah Palin,” proclaimed anchor Katy Tur early in the 2:00 p.m. ET hour. She then recited a column from Washington Post Associate Editor David Ignatius making that case: The anti-Washington rage embodied by...

John McCain passed away Saturday night at the age of 81 after a battle with brain cancer but that did not stop him from taking one last shot at President Trump from beyond the grave. McCain’s farewell message to the nation was read aloud in Phoenix on Monday afternoon by Rick Davis, a former campaign manager for McCain.

The flags at the White House, which were lowered over the weekend to mark the death of Sen. John McCain, are back at full-staff. The flags at the U.S. Capitol, meanwhile, remained at half-staff on Monday to honor the Arizona Republican, who died Saturday of brain cancer. […] U.S. Flag Code states that flags be lowered “on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress.” After Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts died in 2009, President Barack Obama ordered flags at the White House be flown at half-staff for five days. …

Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate, called her former running mate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) a “maverick and a fighter” in a statement after his death Saturday afternoon. “Today we lost an American original. Sen. John McCain was a maverick and a fighter, never afraid to stand for his beliefs. John never took the easy path in life — and through sacrifice and suffering he inspired others to serve something greater than self,” she said. “John McCain was my friend. I will remember the good times. My family and I send prayers for Cindy and the...

John McCain, the longtime senator and 2008 GOP presidential candidate who refused to leave fellow prisoners of war behind to escape years of torture in Vietnam, and whose maverick streak as Arizona’s senior statesman at times frustrated fellow Republicans and confounded President Donald Trump, has died, his family confirmed in a statement Saturday. He was 81and had been diagnosed with brain cancer in July 2017. McCain had decided to discontinue medical treatment for the glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, his family announced on Aug. 24. He had surpassed expectations for his survival, but "the progress of disease and...

The party of Donald Trump began almost 10 years ago to the day, when John McCain tapped Sarah Palin to join his ticket. “She’s not from these parts and she’s not from Washington, but when you get to know her, you’re going to be as impressed as I am,” McCain said when he announced his decision. “She’s got the grit, integrity, the good sense and fierce devotion to the common good that is exactly what we need in Washington today.” Even though McCain and Palin were bested by Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Palin inspired a slew of copycats, unleashing...

I'm very happy, very happy today to spend my birthday with you and to make an historic announcement in Dayton, a city built on hard, honest work of good people. Like the entire industrial Midwest, Dayton has contributed much to the prosperity and progress of America. And now in these tough, changing times, after all you've done for our country, you want your government to understand what you're going through, to stand on your side and fight for you. And that's what I intend to do. That's why I'm running for president, to fight for you, to make government stand...

Rick Wilson is a long-time Republican strategist and the architect of all manner of knives-out campaign ads, including one particularly vicious spot from the 2008 presidential campaign that hammered Barack Obama’s connection to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright with the tag: “Barack Obama: Too Radical, Too Risky.” He helped start the Never Trump movement. It cost him friends and all manner of potential political work. It subjected him to the threats and fury of Trump’s troll army. He was labelled a Rino (Republican in name only) and a party traitor. And he didn’t care. Right is right, and Trump was clearly,...

If you're one of the many American progressives cheering on the performance of your new political rock star, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, look around: Many of the people cheering with you are Republicans. Ocasio-Cortez's 14-point victory over 10-term incumbent Democrat Joe Crowley was certainly impressive. Her performance since then? Not so much. The GOP have branded her a gaffe machine, Democrats on Capitol Hill her urging her "to do things differently," and her stumbling media appearances have sparked references to the "P" word: "Palin." Yes, it's that bad. There's a lot to like about the bold, outspoken battler from the Bronx who,...

Oscar Wilde once quipped that “there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Having generated a lot of chatter recently, Sacha Baron Cohen and Showtime may take The Importance of Being Earnest author’s words as some cold comfort today. They may have to. Because, for all the hoopla around the debut of Cohen’s Who Is America? series, the 10 PM satire offering attracted a pretty meager viewership on July 15, at least on the small screen. Just 327,000 sets of eyeballs tuned in to the premium cabler on...

Showtime and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen rebuffed former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's claim that she was "duped" into a prank interview for the British actor's new series. The network said in a statement on Monday that Baron Cohen conducted the interview for his new show "Who is America?" dressed as one of his new characters, Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr., Ph.D. But contrary to Palin's claim that the character was intended to be a disabled vet, Showtime said that the show's premiere on Sunday proved that wasn't the case. "There has been widespread misinformation over the past week about...

Duped Sarah Palin says Sacha Baron Cohen told her Chelsea Clinton was a recipient of a government-funded sex change

SNIP Palin appeared on ABC's “Good Morning America” on Friday to talk about the interview Baron Cohen staged for his new Showtime satirical series “Who is America?” The former governor of Alaska told host Robin Roberts that Baron Cohen showed her “propaganda” about sex changes and transgender people and claimed that Chelsea Clinton was the “recipient of a government-funded sex change.” “It got worse and worse and worse as the minutes went on in this bizarre, really embarrassing, humiliating interview,” Palin said. “It mocked middle class Americans, it mocked our values, it mocked the disabled.” Palin said she had had...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin slammed what appeared to be a response from British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who’s on the defensive after apparently posing as a disabled military veteran for a prank interview. “Another list of unfunny lies, this time typewritten for all to see; a pathetic attempt to punk not just my daughter and me again, but now the public,” Palin wrote on Facebook Thursday. “Thank God people are wise to Hollywood’s BS & said, ‘Enough.’” Palin was responding to a tweet sent from the Twitter account of “Billy Wayne Ruddick,” the fictional character Cohan plays in his...

Sarah Palin is calling on Sacha Baron Cohen to donate all the profits from his upcoming Showtime series to military veterans’ groups after saying she was duped into an interview with the comedian when he pretended to be a wounded warrior. The Daily Mail reports that the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee said she unknowingly participated in an interview for what turned out to be Cohen’s just-announced satirical series, “Who is America?” “This ‘legit opportunity’ to honor American Vets and contribute to a ‘legit Showtime historical documentary’ was requested of me via a speakers bureau,” Palin said. Palin, 54, says...

MSNBC’s “AM Joy” host Joy Reid lamented Sunday how the media viewed former President George W. Bush and Sarah Palin as authentic and enchanting because of their speech while also “disparaging” former President Barack Obama for “being almost too erudite and articulate.” “There is a thing in Republican Party politics where not being erudite as a speaker is seen as a virtue,” said Reid. “It was with George W. Bush, the idea that he’s plain-spoken, and so, when he would mangle the language — even the media would read that as authentic and great, right? He would make up words...

This week on “Saturday Night Live,” guest and former cast member Tina Fey brought back her old Sarah Palin character to deliver a message to members of the Trump administration. “Here’s a refresher: I was the first female on a Republican presidential ticket and now I get paid to tweet for Bass Pro Shops,” Fey said as Palin. “Take it from me, politics is a wild ride. One minute you’re on top, and then you’re gone in the blink of a Scaramucci. Well, I have a message for all the people in the Trump White House: enjoy your moment, who...

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded Friday to a barrage of questions regarding Special Assistant to the President Kelly Sadler joking about Sen. John McCain’s death in an internal meeting which was leaked to the press. A reporter asked Sanders if Sadler still had a job. “I’m not going to comment on an internal staff meeting,” she replied. Another reporter pressed Sanders on the remarks and whether the White House planned to address them. “I’m not going to validate a leak out of an internal staff meeting one way or the other,” Sanders said. She did later confirm...

In his new book, The Restless Wave, and in an upcoming HBO documentary, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) expresses regret about choosing former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate in the 2008 election. According to TheNew York Times, in the documentary, McCain refers to the Palin selection as “another mistake” he made in a long political career. In his new book, McCain reportedly claims that former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, a Democrat, would have been a better choice for the ticket. McCain noted that his advisers convinced him not to choose the Democrat, so he picked...

Sarah Palin broke her silence Thursday and said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., never told her directly that he regrets picking her as his running mate as the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. However, the former Alaska governor said every time she hears about the reports of his bitterness towards her, it's "like a perpetual gut-punch." "It's not a real fun thing that part of my job is the requirement – is having to read the news every day,"