Why Was Sarah Palin Not Invited to John McCain's Funeral?

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., center, joined by Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, left, and wife Cindy, pauses as he speaks to a rally with supporters on election night in Phoenix, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

In what is perhaps a fitting denouement to the whole saga of flags-at-half-staff and condolences-not-given and invitations-not-forthcoming in the wake of John McCain’s death, we have this item.

President Donald Trump and former John McCain presidential running mate Sarah Palin are not invited to memorial services for the iconic Arizona senator, multiple sources tell PEOPLE.

“Two names you won’t see on the guest list: Trump and Palin,” says a Capitol Hill source with knowledge of funeral plans for McCain, who died of brain cancer Saturday at age 81.

“Invitations were not extended” to the two political figures, confirms Carla Eudy, a fundraiser who has worked with and been friends with the McCain family for decades.

A source with knowledge of the funeral arrangements adds that several longtime McCain staffers were also removed from the invite list in recent days by Eudy.

Who McCain and/or his family wanted at his funeral is entirely his/their business. The refusal to give President Trump an invitation is not unexpected. They simply didn’t like each other…perhaps because they had too many of the same personality traits. The decision to snub Sarah Palin is petty and vindictive.

The only reason John McCain had even an outside chance of being competitive in 2008 was because of the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket. And the way McCain’s campaign staff sabotage and undercut her was an atrocity. She may not have been ready for the limelight at the time, but by deliberately making her into the punchline of a joke, people like Nicolle Wallace robbed the GOP of a politician with charisma and talent.

Since 2008, Palin has been relentlessly loyal to John McCain, despite the treatment she received from his minions. And that continues even after this cheap snub.

Palin family source says, “Out of respect to Senator McCain and his family we have nothing to add at this point. The Palin family will always cherish their friendship with the McCains and hold those memories dear.”

— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) August 29, 2018

This is how HotAir colleague Allahpundit sees it:

…But her Twitter tribute was strong and it’s not as though Maverick was unfailingly respectful of Palin through the years. How many times had he let it be known since 2008, whether through surrogates or ultimately from his own lips, that he wished he’d chosen Joe Lieberman instead of her as VP? As much as that stung, even then Palin tried to deflect blame from McCain himself by attributing the sentiment to his “ghostwriters.” She had every political incentive over the past 10 years to join in the merry trashing of Maverick by the GOP base. She declined.

Bear in mind too that McCain will be eulogized on Saturday by one guy who defeated him for the GOP nomination thanks to a scorched-earth smear campaign in South Carolina and by another guy who defeated him for the presidency by sporadically implying he was a racist. McCain had an enormous capacity to forgive his political rivals for their slights, even to the point of letting them speak at his memorial service. But … not Palin, I guess.

The amazing thing about the snub is that refusing to offer an invitation costs more than extending one would. It would have been the easiest thing to say “let bygones be bygones,” have Palin quietly attend, and thus avoid any headlines about her not being asked to show up. To absorb coverage like this the McCains really must have wanted her to stay away, a dishonor otherwise seemingly reserved for their least favorite people. That’s a shame.