Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the running mate for Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) 2008 presidential campaign, weighed in on the dispute between McCain and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, posting a message on her Facebook page calling both men heroes and encouraging them to “resolve the media-driven wedge between them.”

As Breitbart News reported, Trump set off a media firestorm on Saturday when he said that McCain was a war hero only “because he was captured.”

McCain, a Navy pilot who volunteered for service during the Vietnam War, was brutally tortured during his five-and-a-half years as a POW. Trump avoided the war through a series of at least five deferments, four as a student and one medical deferment for a “bone spur” in his foot.

All of the other GOP presidential candidates defended McCain’s service, and many denounced Trump, former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) among one of the most outspoken.

Palin has long been a hero among Tea Party conservatives, and it is noteworthy that while she criticizes Trump’s attack on McCain, she also specifically calls out McCain to apologize for calling conservative activists “crazies” and “wacko birds.”

Sarah Palin’s full statement:

I have the good fortune of knowing both John McCain and Donald Trump well. Both men have more in common than the today’s media hype would have you believe. Both blazed trails in their careers and love our great nation. Sen. McCain dedicated his life to serving our country, and in my humble opinion the sacrifices made by all ethical service members are heroic – putting it all on the line to defend freedom IS heroic – and Donald Trump is a hero in another arena. Trump is the candidate giving voice to untold millions of fed-up Americans witnessing a purposeful destruction of our economy and the equal opportunity for success that made America exceptional. We’re watching career politicians throw away our kids’ future through bankrupting public budgets and ripping open our porous borders which, obvious to all us non-politicians, puts us at great risk. Everywhere I go, hard-working patriotic Americans – not “crazies” or “wacko birds” – ask me to pass on to Mr. Trump encouragement to keep educating the masses about true ramifications of illegal immigration, and in general the real state of our union. I encourage both leaders to resolve the media driven wedge between them, and we can keep the debate focused on significant issues at hand. I leave politics of personal destruction to those on the Left and lazy media lapdogs whose only take away from any debate is any salacious slip-up, as if they’ve never wanted to restate something they’ve publicly uttered. I’ll fight the exhausting, divisive strategy that’s taken hold under the current crop of politicians who refuse to allow our United States to unite. Both Mr. Trump and Sen. McCain can contribute their gifts and talents to join that fight to work together, because the Left is headed the other direction, and under their desired division we will fall.

Follow Sarah Rumpf on Twitter @rumpfshaker.