John McCain now wishes he’d never selected Sarah Palin as his 2008 running mate

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reportedly wishes he had never picked former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as a running mate for his unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign.

According to The New York Times, McCain had considered Joe Lieberman, then an independent senator from Connecticut, for the job of vice president. However, advisors warned against picking the longtime member of the Democratic Party who still caucused with them.

“It was sound advice that I could reason for myself,” McCain wrote in his upcoming autobiography, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights and Other Appreciations,” per the Times. “But my gut told me to ignore it and I wish I had.”

In an upcoming HBO documentary, McCain described his decision to not select Lieberman as “another mistake that I made.”

Although Lieberman endorsed McCain and spoke at the Republican National Convention on the senator’s behalf, he later ran for vice president as a Democrat on the 2000 ticket headed by Al Gore.

In an excerpt of the book posted online by NPR, McCain called Palin “a popular, energetic and accomplished reformer.” But he also admitted there were some problems.

“She stumbled in some interviews and had a few misjudgments in the glare of the ceaseless spotlight,” McCain wrote. “Those missteps too are on me. She didn’t put herself on the ticket. I did.”

The duo ultimately lost to Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Palin resigned as governor of Alaska the following year and became a leading voice of the “Tea Party” movement.

McCain, 81, is now battling brain cancer. “The Restless Wave” will be released later this month.

(h/t The Hill)

• This article originally appeared on HuffPost.