In an ABC interview aired yesterday and today, the former VP notes:

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2012 Presidential Election

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Former vice president Richard B. Cheney said the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008 was “a mistake” — the sort of mistake Mitt Romney should avoid.

In an interview with ABC News, Cheney said Sen. John McCain’s choice of the relatively inexperienced Palin was one “I don’t think was well handled.”

In choosing a running mate, Cheney said, “there are two lists. There is the big list. And it’s got a lot of folks on it.”

To make the smaller list, he said, “the test . . . has to be, ‘Is this person capable of being president of the United States?’ ”

Putting electoral considerations over qualifications is not wise, Cheney told ABC’s Jon Karl in an interview from Cheney’s ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyo., to be aired Monday on ABC news programs and on “Nightline.”

“Those are important issues, but they should never be allowed to override that first proposition. That was one of the problems McCain had,” Cheney said.

“I like Governor Palin,” Cheney said of the former Alaska governor. “I’ve met her. I know her. . . . Attractive candidate. But based on her background, she’d 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 mistake.”

The former VP’s daughter disagrees, however, and made that clear in a much re-tweeted comment:

I like how there are obvious differences in that family and that they’re expressed with respect 🙂 You know VP Cheney is one of my heroes yet I, for one, agree with Ms. Cheney on this. While there will always be differences about how certain things have been handled, Palin saved McCain’s campaign and was more qualified than McCain, Biden or Obama. The thing that killed McCain’s effort was McCain himself.

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12 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. critter64 says:

    I agree with Liz Cheney. Sarah was a bold pick for VP.

  2. ShArKy666 says:

    i’m glad liz spoke up about this because i stongly disagreed with mr.cheney when i saw this interview..
    i dunno if mr.cheney knew about all palin’s accomplishments before she was nominated, because i think she had MORE than enough qualifications to be pres if mccain ever hadda problem.

  3. gkin31 says:

    I wrote about this on my blog last night, Palin with everything she did for Alaska was almost as qualified as John McCain was to be President back in 2008.

  4. Timbo says:

    Palin was the right pick.. The Establishment was not ready for her.. God bless Mr Cheney.. but I disagree with him on this assessment. McCain was the problem..

  5. greenlantern2011 says:

    All due respect to DC, but Liz gets it. I believe she has a great regard for SP, and even more than that, she recognizes the folly of the GOP distancing itself from the Tea Party constituency and it’s defacto leader. The Obama administration has forever lowered the bar for POTUS qualifiers to practically nil, so let’s never hear about that again. And the GOP, with their arrogant elite, are in real danger of going the way of the Whig party. Stop undermining Romney, too. Liz was practically the only one on FOX shows on Sunday that wasn’t taking a hatchet to Mitt for any number of imagined grievous errors on his part. SHUT IT! Mitt is doing just fine, know-it-alls.

  6. Alain41 says:

    My dislike of DC’s comment is the potential long-term damage. MSM will use the ‘is he/she qualified’ insinuation against all real conservative politicians to try and keep them from being nominated. And will support their insinuation by saying that even DC agrees that Palin was not a good choice.

  7. midget says:

    I have much respect for VP Cheney but I think he’s wrong about Sarah Palin. In 2009, Gov Palin came to my hometown for founder’s day one week before she announced her departure from being governor.I have never heard someone more capable of being presidential than when she spoke. I think people would have taken her more seriously if she had been fat, ugly and less intelligent. Her attractiveness is such a distraction that even VP Cheney sees a “soccer mom” and not a force for change in Washingto DC.

  8. plaisir says:

    Liz trumps her dad on this one. She is absolutely correct. Doesn’t change my opinion of a great man, Dick Cheney. He’s allowed a misstep once in a while! They are a great American family. And it has not gone unnoticed by me, and I hope others, that the VP was up front, honest and more than willing to declare his support for gay marriage way before Obama put his finger in the wind and threw a sop to the marriage equality movement mob.

  9. otlset says:

    Yes Mr Cheney, if you only judge by time spent in Palin’s positions of authority rather than results accomplished. Apart from her personal attractiveness and charisma, she was very effective and a hard worker who knew she was a servant of the public, and acted always from her strong moral base of Christian principles, otherwise known as walking the talk (or is that walking the walk?). The 30 thousand emails that documented her time as governor are pretty solid testimony. She would have done a better job than all three of the jokers she ran with and against in my opinion, based on her record to that point and the moral (and pro-American) motivation that drives her decision making. She was a reformer as well and she meant what she said.

  10. mark5573 says:

    Ain’t buying it Liz. You guys in the GOPe,ran it up the flag pole and it back fired. You agree 100% with your father and you are just doing damage control. Now Your just playing,”Good cop/Bad cop”,to cover your backsides.

  11. jiaconis says:

    I must respectfully disagree with Vice President Cheney, look who we got in the Oval Office for the past 3.75 years. Does he think that Sarah Palin would have been as bad or worse the BHO, I don’t believe that he actually thinks that. I am still a Palinista, and the events of last Oct 5, 2011 still sting, I hope that the Romney campaign will choose Sarah Palin to give the keynote speech at the convention, look as how great she was with only a few day lead-in time when she accepted the Vice Presidential nomination, Sarah is a NATURAL, and she will rally the base and beyond. Run Sarah Run…

  12. wilde1 says:

    I think VP Cheney has wind of Romney’s possible VP choices. He wants to make sure Romney chooses Portman ( Dull guy in Bush Administration). There was no reason to bring up Gov. Palin.

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