Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) former running mate Sarah Palin is not the only high level member of his 2008 who’s been excluded from the senator’s funeral, Politico reported.
According to three people familiar with the guest list who spoke to Politico, McCain’s former campaign manager Steve Schmidt, senior adviser-turned MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace and ex-strategist John Weaver were all excluded from the affair, which was strategically planned in the months leading up to McCain’s death.
The exclusions signal that the McCain family still harbors indignation over the consequences of McCain’s choice of Palin as a running mate in 2008, a decision that earned him criticism from some of his closest advisers, including Wallace and Schmidt. Both publicly disparaged the late senator’s choice in the aftermath of the 2008 campaign, giving interviews to Mark Halperin and John Heilemann for their 2009 book-turned movie “Game Change.”
McCain was open about feeling betrayed by those former aides and didn’t interact with Schmidt for nearly six years. The two reportedly made amends in recent years, according to Politico, and Weaver has confided to friends that he “and McCain had no unfinished business,” in Politico’s words.
All three former campaign officials are now affiliated with MSNBC.
