According to The New York Times, Senator John McCain reportedly wishes he had never picked Sarah Palin as a running mate in 2008.
Apparently, McCain had considered Joe Lieberman, however warned against picking the longtime member of the Democratic Party.
In an upcoming HBO documentary, McCain described his decision to not select Lieberman as “another mistake that I made.”
Would picking Joe Lieberman have led to McCain defeating Barack Obama?
No.
I personally was very excited with the Sarah Palin pick. Remember the theme that they were both mavericks - doing what was right for the people regardless of what the establishment wanted? Remember Palin's memorable introductory speech.
Wow, people have a short memory in politics.
In fact, it was McCain's people who bungled the message by hiding Palin from the media then sending into a long-form interview in which it was obvious she was trying to desperately remember too many talking points. And the maverick message was lost.
But here's the most IMPORTANT thing to remember: the economic headlines during the McCain/Palin campaign were continuously bad. Barack Obama promised a new approach to growing the economy and was able to successfully blame the economic doldrums on George W. Bush. He was able to portray McCain as touting the same economic philosophy as Bush.
It didn't matter who ran with John McCain - voters vote with their checkbook.