WASHINGTON, July 29, 2012 — Now it’s official: The selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election was “a mistake.” Most of us knew that all along with Republican leaders holding their heads and moaning, “Why, John, why?” And Democrats high-fiving across America.
But former Vice President Dick Cheney has now verified what everyone in the GOP was politely dancing around these past few years while rarely saying anything publicly that was critical of Palin or McCain. That is except for Steve Schmidt, who vetted her for Senator McCain, only to later admit he had made a colossal mistake, saying “I think the notion of Sarah Palin being President of the United States is something that frightens me, frankly.” Similar words coming from Cheney, however, make it official. Palin was a disaster.
This morning during an interview with Jonathan Karl on ABC News’ “This Week,” Cheney offered Mitt Romney some solid advice, basically, don’t do a John McCain. Cheney does know a thing about picking veeps, having led the search for President George W. Bush’s running mate, and then picking himself as the best qualified person to be Vice President.
Cheney has dispensed his nuggets of wisdom to Romney and the head of Romney’s search team Beth Myers, but he would not say exactly what he told them. However, in the interview with Jonathan Karl, Cheney minced no words, saying that while a presidential candidate should take into consideration how much appeal the running mate might have with a demographic group, that can’t be a deciding factor.
Dick Cheney’s all-knowing smile
Explaining further, Cheney said: “Those are important issues, but they should never be allowed to override the first proposition. That was one of the problems McCain had.”
“I like Gov. Palin. I’ve met her. I know her. But based on her background, she had only been governor for, what, two years? I don’t thing she passed that test of being ready to take over. And I think that was a mistake.”
“The test to get on that small list [of VP nominees] has to be, ‘Is this person capable of being president of the United States?’” And Sarah Palin did not meet that standard.
Tough words for both McCain and Palin.
But more toughness is to come from Cheney, according to ABC, when the interview continues on Monday with segments being shown on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer” and “Nightline.”
This is the first interview by the former Vice-President since his heart transplant operation this past March. But he is once more in fighting form with some harsh criticism of President Obama still to come when the interview concludes on Monday.
Meanwhile Romney does not plan to announce his choice of veep until after his return from his European trip. Then we will know if he listened to Cheney’s advice.
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