Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Joe Lieberman And John McCain Still ‘Amigos’ Despite 2008 Mistake

Former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman never knew that John McCain had regrets about not choosing him as his 2008 running mate— until the sentiment was shared in McCain’s new book.

“I must say, I kind of wondered, but we never talked about it. It was a classic, as close as we are,” Lieberman told ABC News. “What he said in the book meant a lot to me really because he had never said that before, and it was sort of just an expression of our friendship at a difficult time.”

McCain described the regret in his new book, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations.” His advisers warned him against picking Lieberman, a Democrat who turned Independent, because of his support for abortion rights. The advisers believed that support would divide the party, so the Republican selected Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

The 81-year-old Arizona senator has been battling brain cancer since last summer. Lieberman reportedly plans to visit him this weekend in Arizona. Along with South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, the men refer to themselves as the “Three Amigos.”

“It’s just an extraordinary friendship really and I consider it to be one of the blessings of my life truthfully,” Lieberman said of the trio.

Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected]

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.