Cindy McCain is hosting a tea party.
The widow of the late Senator John McCain has a new memoir coming out and it’s clear she has nothing more to give, especially when it comes to a former governor of Alaska.
In Stronger, McCain writes that she first found her husband’s vice president in 2008, Sarah Palin, “charming, delightful and ambitious,” but that it became clear early on that she was “naïve to it. about national politics ”and way too confident in things she knew absolutely nothing about.
“She believed in her own abilities,” writes Cindy. “Confidence is great, but only when it is justified.”
Of course, none of this is new. Petty, everyone agrees today that Palin was an absolutely terrible choice for VP and likely cost McCain the election. McCain himself has expressed regret for choosing her in his latest book, calling it a “mistake” and saying he wished he had listened to his instincts and run with Joe Lieberman instead.
Where McCain’s book gets juicy, however, is when she talks about why Palin was not invited to the senator’s funeral in 2018. Here is what she writes:
In the fourteen months that John had been ill, she had never spoken to him once. He had put her on the political map, and she hadn’t even sent him a note of good wishes when he was downstairs. This is not someone you are asking for a final farewell.
Thin. Not even a card, Sarah? Really?!
Speaking to PEOPLE, McCain added, “There were so many opportunities for people to come, and I made sure people could, because I wanted to keep him engaged.”
“I was just very disappointed with what Ms. Palin did, because I just felt that… I hoped that she felt that my husband was as loved as I was. And I was just very disappointed. I think I was more disappointed than John.
But according to Palin, she contacted the McCains during the senator’s long illness … by emailing Meghan McCain.
The Palin camp provided PEOPLE with an alleged message from the failed running mate to The View co-host written in December 2017 that read, “Please know that we pray for you, your mother, your brothers, sister… Please give the senator a big hug from us.
Because nothing says “I care” like a two-sentence email written on her phone.
When asked if she had heard from Palin since her husband passed away, Cindy McCain replied to PEOPLE, “I haven’t, but I wish her well.
Another person who was not invited to the senator’s funeral was Donald Trump, but McCain welcomed Ivanka and Jared, although she was suspicious of their motives for wanting to be there.
In her memoirs, she writes:
John has always taught me that it takes more energy to be crazy than to just move on. I’m not sure exactly why Ivanka and Jared wanted to be there. But I hope they came for the reason I would think – that they mourned the loss of my husband.
Kudos to Cindy for giving two of the Trump administration’s most toxic, manipulative and calculating members the benefit of the doubt.
Stronger hits bookstores next Tuesday.
Graham Gremore is editor and editor at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
