Dick Cheney: picking Sarah Palin as running mate was 'mistake'
Dick Cheney, the former US Vice President, said John McCain's 2008 running mate pick of Sarah Palin was a "mistake" because of her inexperience29 Jul 2012
In an interview with ABC News, Mr Cheney, who was George W Bush's running mate in 2000 and 2004, said the main criterion for anyone being considered as a potential future vice president "has to be: Is this person capable of being the president of the United States."
Mr Cheney, who remains an influential figure in Republican circles, said he personally likes Mrs Palin, who was a first-term governor of Alaska when Arizona Senator McCain picked her as his running mate four years ago.
"I like Governor Palin. I've met her. I know her. She was an attractive candidate," he said.
"But based on her background – she had only been governor for what, two years? I don't think she passed that test ... of being ready to take over. And I think that was a – a mistake."
Mr McCain and Mrs Palin lost to the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden.
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Mr Cheney cited his experience in leading the search for running mates for two Republican presidential candidates – incumbent President Gerald Ford in 1976 and George W Bush in 2000. The latter ended with Mr Cheney himself being chosen as Bush's running mate, and he served as vice president from 2001 to 2009.
Before being elected vice president, Mr Cheney had served as US defence secretary, a White House official, a congressman and a business executive.
Mr Cheney, 71, underwent heart transplant surgery in March in Virginia. Cheney, who has suffered five heart attacks, had been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months before he received the heart from an anonymous donor.
On July 12, Mr Cheney hosted a fund-raising event to add to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's brimming campaign coffers. Mrs Palin, the first woman ever to be chosen as the Republican vice presidential candidate, was an unconventional selection in that she was a novice on the US national political scene with relatively little experience in public office.
Her selection initially energised the McCain campaign, but she committed a series of gaffes and there was tension between her camp and Mr McCain's advisers behind the scenes.
Source: Reuters
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