Sarah Palin says John McCain is unquestionably a hero. Then again, so’s Donald Trump.
"Sen. McCain dedicated his life to serving our country, and in my humble opinion the sacrifices made by all ethical service members are heroic – putting it all on the line to defend freedom IS heroic – and Donald Trump is a hero in another arena,” the former Alaska governor told CNN in an email Monday. Palin was McCain’s vice presidential running mate on the 2008 Republican presidential ticket.
The two men can get along, she said, and took aim at the media for taking the focus off of issues.
"We can keep the debate focused on significant issues at hand," she said. "I leave politics of personal destruction to those on the Left and lazy media lapdogs who's only take away from any debate is any salacious slip-up, as if they've never wanted to restate something they've publicly uttered."
"I'll fight the exhausting, divisive strategy that's taken hold under the current crop of politicians who refuse to allow our United States to unite. Both Mr. Trump and Sen. McCain can contribute their gifts and talents to join that fight to work together, because the Left is headed the other direction and under that desired division we will fall," she said.
Palin, who has not been as politically visible this year as in recent years, explained, "I have the good fortune of knowing both John McCain and Donald Trump well.”
McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for five and a half years. Saturday, Trump disparaged the Arizona senator’s war record. Trump did not serve in Vietnam. He received deferments and a high lottery number.
Pain said the two men have “more in common than the today's media hype would have you believe. Both blazed trails in their careers and love our great nation."
She explained Trump “is the candidate giving voice to untold millions of fed-up Americans witnessing a purposeful destruction of our economy and the equal opportunity for success that made America exceptional," Palin said. "We're watching career politicians throw away our kids' future through bankrupting public budgets and ripping open our porous borders which, obvious to all us non-politicians, puts us at great risk."
Palin appeared to tweak McCain, who has said Trump’s harsh criticism of undocumented Mexican immigrants, referring to them as rapists and criminals, had fired up “the crazies.”
"Everywhere I go, hard-working patriotic Americans -- not 'crazies' or 'wacko birds' -- ask me to pass on to Mr. Trump encouragement to keep educating the masses about true ramifications of illegal immigration, and in general the real state of our union,” she said.
David Lightman: 202-383-6101, @lightmandavid