Cheney: Picking Palin for VP Was a Mistake

The former vice president said John McCain’s running mate wasn’t ready to take over the presidency.

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Dick Cheney arrives for a meeting with Republican members of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol July 17

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Liberals might be shocked to learn they agree with former vice president Dick Cheney about something: Sarah Palin was not ready to be president. In his first interview since a March heart transplant, the former vice president told ABC News John McCain made a mistake in picking Palin as his running mate.

“That one,” Cheney said, “I don’t think was well-handled.” Cheney, who helped Gerald Ford select Bob Dole as his running mate in 1976 and later headed up George W. Bush’s vice-presidential task force in 2000 before he was selected for the job, has allegedly offered advice to Romney on how to pick an appropriate number two. He said presidential candidates have two lists of potential vice-presidential picks. One big list includes everyone who wants to be considered, and the second has the names of those who actually have a shot at the post.

“The test to get on that small list has to be, ‘Is this person capable of being president of the United States?’” Cheney said, adding that although Palin is an “attractive candidate … I don’t think she passed that test.”

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