The political operative who brought former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin onto the national political stage as Sen. John McCain’s 2008 vice presidential running mate now says he has “deep regret” about doing creating the “freak show that’s been running wild for four years” in the Republican Party.

Steve Schmidt was running McCain’s presidential race when he helped convince the GOP nominee that bringing in a fresh, conservative face like Palin would be a game changer in a race being dominated by Democrat Barack Obama. The results proved disastrous for McCain.