He should have questioned his staff and then if he was convinced it did not come from them he should have publicly denounced the stories. If his staff did say this then he still should have publicly defended Palin. He picked her and brought her to the dance- he should not have ignored this- letting it get legs.
His staff has denied all this.
Most people around here did not believe them.
Why would those same people believe McCain?
There is a perfectly valid theory about these sorts of messes which holds that you don’t legitimize them by responding to them. You just ignore them. The truth will come out soon enough.