McCain discusses Palin again - CNN beats really, really dead horse

Although he's been asked about tensions between his staff and his 2008 running mate Sarah Palin many times, Senator John McCain was asked about it today on CNN.

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Arizona Senator John McCain was asked about tensions between his staff and his 2008 running mate Sarah Palin this morning on CNN.

Although it's nearly been a full year since the end of the campaign, why not ask Senator John McCain about tensions between his staff and Sarah Palin yet again? Especially because you might have missed the first 40,000 times he's been asked the question.

CNN's John King put the nauseam in ad nauseam earlier today when he breathed life into the topic once more. (see video below)

But can you blame him? There's, of course, nothing else to talk about in the political world. And in the spirit of the new movie sensation "Zombieland," perhaps that dead horse has come back to life. Therefore, the only responsible thing for CNN to do is continue to beat it.

So, is there anything new that McCain said about Palin? No.

Guess what? He continues to admire her. And has "great affection for her." And he believes she is still a "formidable force in the Republican party."

Palin is catastrophic?

Perhaps the reason the topic was broached again is that McCain's former campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, discussed Palin's formidableness earlier this week. Schmidt said if she were the 2012 nominee, it could be "catastrophic" for the party.

McCain chuckled when he saw Schmidt's video clip and said his "degree of clairvoyance" was not powerful enough to make such a prediction. But tried to put the whole affair in perspective -- again -- when he said that tensions always exist in a campaign.

"Look, whenever there's a political campaign -- and I've been involved in them for many, many years -- there's always tensions within," he said. "And there were clearly tensions between Steve Schmidt and people in the Palin camp."

In case you forgot, relations between Palin and McCain's staff went downhill fast. Click here for a trip down memory lane.

A thousand blooming flowers

McCain sounded zen-like when discussing the next campaign and Palin's yet-to-be-seen role.

"Let's let a thousand flowers bloom," he said. "Let's come up with a winning combination the next time. Let's all go through the process rather than condemning anybody's chances. And I'm happy to say we've got some great people out there and Sarah is one of them."

Palin's take on the 2008 campaign will be the topic of a book to be released on November 17. Despite the release date being more than five weeks away, it's already a best-seller. You can read more about it here.

By the way, Senator McCain was more gracious than GOP chief Michael Steele on the topic of Obama's Nobel Peace prize. McCain congratulated the president on Friday saying, "I join my fellow Americans in expressing pride in our president on this occasion."

Steele, on the other hand, mocked it in a fundraising email by saying Obama won the honor for his "awesomeness" instead. Click here to read this story.

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