Yesterday, John McCain surfaced on the Sunday talk shows for the first time since the elections, speaking to ABC‘s “This Week”.

Most reports of his appearance focused on his attempt to quietly start reclaiming his earlier persona, the one he put through the shredder when he decided he would say and do whatever he thought might improve his chances of being elected, no matter how contemptible or unsavory or just plain wrong or how totally false.

Once again, our John is the maverick voice of reason in the Republican party. Here he is, telling the Republican National Committee, and other Republican party officials, not to be such douchebags over the Blagojevich scandal:

I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary. You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody — right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don’t know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama’s campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me.

If this attempted rehabilitation works, then the American people are really prize chumps. Or maybe I should say, the American media, not the American people? This PR offensive (and I use that word advisedly) is probably aimed at winning back media love. (Once that’s in the bag, then McCain can set about weaseling his way back into our affections too with the media’s help.)

However, with all the focus on his Blagojevich comment (and with the shoe-throwing incident sucking up a lot of the available media oxygen), what has largely slipped through the cracks are McCain’s remarks about Sarah Palin, and whether he would support her in 2012.

He wasn’t even willing to paper over the reported discord between them with a bland non-answer:

Sen. John McCain said Sunday he would not necessarily support his former running mate if she chose to run for president.

Speaking to ABC‘s “This Week,” McCain was asked whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could count on his support.

“I can’t say something like that. We’ve got some great other young governors. I think you’re going to see the governors assume a greater leadership role in our Republican Party,” he said.

He then mentioned governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jon Huntsman of Utah.

McCain said he has “the greatest appreciation for Gov. Palin and her family, and it was a great joy to know them.”

“She invigorated our campaign” against Barack Obama for the presidency, he said.

McCain was pressed on why he can’t promise support for the woman who, just months ago, he named as the second best person to lead the nation.

“Have no doubt of my admiration and respect for her and my view of her viability, but at this stage, again … my corpse is still warm, you know?” he replied.

That clearly translates into: “Sarah Palin? Bleep her!”

Incidentally, I doubt if it was a smart move for McCain to throw in that “my corpse” reference when reminded about the enthusiasm with which he picked Sarah Palin as his Vice-President, and with which he defended that pick. (Of course, there’s really no reason at this point why anyone should expect smart moves from John McCain.)