McCain says he regrets choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate

The forthcoming final memoir from Senator John McCain, titled The Restless Wave, and a nearly two-hour-long HBO documentary on its way seem to be being used as an opportunity to settle some scores. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times has obtained copies of both books, and has spoken with the ailing senator at his ranch, where he seems to be spending his final days. This leaped out at me:

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 is odd indeed to call it “sound advice” and to simultaneously wish he had disregarded it. Logically, this seems to mean that he wishes he had lost, while making a futile gesture towards bipartisanship, or maybe just avoiding contamination with the populism of Sarah Palin. It is an open secret that members of McCain’s campaign sought to sabotage Palin during the campaign, apparently preferring to lose rather than tolerate her views and her persona.

This odd, unsourced paragraph written by Martin offers a clue:

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.

I strongly suspect that McCain himself expressed these views to Martin, but asked not to be quoted.

I am sure Sarah Palin feels the same way after being attacked constantly and relentlessly after the election so much she was basically forced to resign as governor of Alaska...

I am sure she appreciates feeling a sense of loyalty to defend him every now and then since 2009 even when it was not popular with her own base and then never having Johnny Boy EVER DEFEND HER WHEN SHE WAS UNDER CONSTANT RELENTLESS ATTACKS!!!!

I hope McCain’s cancer takes it’s time and tortures his sorry ass slowly in excruciating pain before he snuff it...

ESAD John “Wet Start” McCain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not really news. McCain's staffers have been blaming Palin for years -- even if they originally encouraged McCain to pick her.

McCain wouldn't have done better with any other running mate. His other choices: Romney, Pawlenty, Crist, Jindal, Ridge, Lieberman.

Palin certainly was more energetic and combative than any of them. She wasn't an ideal candidate, but McCain wasn't going to win anyway.

Questions: Would Palin have been more effective if she'd been prepped better and more, or was it her way to reject advice and just wing it? Would she have been a better candidate if she'd gotten more help? Or was she just too undisciplined to take direction? Or was she a net plus to McCain, who just wasn't a winning candidate in an election that was going to be lost anyway?

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