Now that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has returned home to Alaska, she’s striking back at critics within the McCain campaign who blame her for the GOP ticket’s defeat, calling them cowardly for speaking to reporters anonymously. As for her being touted as a demanding diva, Palin said that all she ever asked for was “a Diet Dr Pepper once in a while.”

Allies of the governor have also come out in her defense.

McCain adviser Nicole Wallace, who some initially thought was leaking the nasty comments about Palin, defended her on NBC’s “Today” show this morning: “She is, perhaps, the most un-diva politician I’ve ever seen.”

Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., in an interview with Fox News, said, “She’s the one that energized the base, she’s the one that got the crowds out. … She’s the one that comes out of this without any scars and now they’re trying to give her some. John McCain should come out and say, ‘This is ridiculous,’ and set the record straight.”

So why hasn’t Sen. McCain done that?