Palin cuts short Hawaii vacation after pictures of her in visor with McCain’s name blacked out

Palin cuts short vacation after McCain visor flap

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said she cut short her Hawaii vacation because of paparazzi, who photographed her wearing a sun visor with the name of John McCain blacked out.

The pictures were circulated widely on the Internet with speculation the redaction was a slight against McCain, but Palin said she meant no disrespect to her former GOP running mate.

“In an attempt to ’go incognito,’ I Sharpied the logo out on my sun visor so photographers would be less likely to recognize me and bother my kids or other vacationers,” Palin said in a statement.

“I am so sorry if people took this silly incident the wrong way. I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his re-election,” the former Alaska governor said.

Other photographs of the Palins relaxing on the beach showed up on celebrity Web sites such as www.tmz.com.

“Todd and I have since cut our vacation short because the incognito attempts didn’t work and fellow vacationers were bothered for the two days we spent in the sun. So much for trying to go incognito,” she said.

She was even more pointed in a message to her Twitter followers Thursday night upon returning home to Alaska, where a fresh 18 inches of snow had fallen: “So cut sunny vacation short (thanks, desperate paparazzi).”

Palin’s visit to the islands comes a week ahead of President Barack Obama’s expected vacation on Oahu, where he was born, spent many of his childhood years and attended high school.

Palin is no stranger to the Aloha State.

According to a biography — “Sarah” by Kaylene Johnson — Palin and three friends went to the University of Hawaii at Hilo after graduation from high school in Alaska in 1982. But they left after a few weeks because of the constant rain there, the book said.

Palin, then known as Sarah Louise Heath, and a friend traveled to Honolulu and enrolled at Hawaii Pacific College, a private, nonsectarian school now known as Hawaii Pacific University. She attended as a freshman during the fall of 1982.

From HPU, Palin transferred to North Idaho College, a two-year school in Coeur d’Alene, and eventually graduated from the University of Idaho in 1987.

__

Associated Press Writer Jaymes Song in Honolulu contributed to this report.