John McCain (R-Ariz.) is getting some things off of his chest as he fights the final days in his battle against brain cancer. He has revealed who will be invited to his funeral. V.P. Pence is on the list, but President Trump is not on the list.
McCain has also expressed regret over his choice of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as a running mate for his unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign.
The Arizona senator wishes that he had chosen his long time friend, Joe Lieberman, then an independent senator from Connecticut, for the job of vice president. McCain spoke about the advice he received not to choose Lieberman.
“It was sound advice that I could reason for myself,” McCain wrote in his upcoming autobiography, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights and Other Appreciations.”
“But my gut told me to ignore it and I wish I had.”
McCain echoes this sentiment in an upcoming HBO documentary. He described the decision not to select Lieberman as “another mistake that I made.”
Lieberman spoke at the Republican National Convention on the senator’s behalf. He had run for vice president as a Democrat on the 2000 ticket headed by Al Gore.
NPR posted an excerpt from McCain’s book online and quoted him saying that Palin was “a popular, energetic and accomplished reformer.” But he also admitted there were some problems.
“She stumbled in some interviews and had a few misjudgments in the glare of the ceaseless spotlight,” McCain wrote. “Those missteps too are on me. She didn’t put herself on the ticket. I did.”
McCain and Palin lost to Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The Alaskan governor resigned from her position a year later and became one of the leading voices nationally in the Tea Party movement.
McCain’s book, “The Restless Wave,” will be released next month.
You can watch this clip about some of McCain’s final thoughts and wishes, let us know what you think.