Washington, Dec.7 (ANI): Republican Senator John McCain said three times Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was proud of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

“I think that Sarah Palin has earned herself a very big place in the American political scene,” Politico quoted the Arizona Republican, who carried his party’s presidentail standard last year, as saying.

He mocked what he suggested were the contradictions of her critics, saying: “‘She’s irrelevant’ — but they continue to attack her.”

Noting that he had just seen the Palin, McCain said he had “a wonderful relationship” with his former vice presidential running mate. (ANI)