McCain Wanted Vinegar Joe Lieberman For Veep

Here is the story of how John McCain picked his running mate: after Barack Obama selected Joe Biden instead of Hillary Clinton, McCain went on a six-day Nyquil bender and at the end of it slurred, "Get me one of them wimmins." He had always had his heart set on another salty warmonger like himself: Joe Lieberman. But conservatives hated Joe Lieberman for being an abortionist, and there just wasn't enough room on one ticket for such a terrifying abundance of old man cheeks.

McCain's other reasonable options -- Pawlenty and Romney -- were too boring and sensible, so he just picked up the phone book and plucked a name out of the middle. "Sarah's a gal's name, right?" he asked, before prank calling Palin with a joke about a gorilla. And then she became his vice president, for 72 hours.

 Advisers say conservative ire pushed McCain away from picking Lieberman [International Herald Tribune]