Sarah Palin Says McCain's Regrets About Her Are A 'Perpetual Gut-Punch'

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin  (R) said it’s a “perpetual gut punch” to hear reports that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) now regrets picking her as his 2008 presidential running mate.

Palin, in an interview with The Daily Mail  published Thursday, said McCain has never expressed any misgivings to her. The ailing senator reportedly makes the admission in his upcoming book and in an HBO documentary, The New York Times reported.

“That’s not what Sen. McCain has told me all these years, as he’s apologized to me repeatedly for the people who ran his campaign –- some who now staff MSNBC , the newsroom there, which tells you a lot,” Palin said. She attributed McCain’s statements to his ghostwriters. 

“It happens to me also where people speak for me and a bell is rung, and you can’t un-ring the bell,” she said. “I don’t know unless I heard it from Sen. McCain myself.” She added that hearing the claim feels “like a perpetual gut-punch.” 

McCain reportedly writes in his book that he planned to choose Joe Lieberman , then an independent senator from Connecticut, as his running mate, but advisers counseled him against it because of Lieberman’s past as a Democrat . 

McCain, 81, is ailing from brain cancer  and has been reflecting on his career and the state of politics. He reportedly asked that President Donald Trump not attend his funeral  and has implored former Vice President Joe Biden to not quit politics.