In an interview that aired on last weekend’s “This Week” on ABC, former Vice President Dick Cheney revealed his disappointment that Sarah Palin was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. That revelation is still being discussed three days later and it has even drawn criticism from conservatives.
But on Tuesday night’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on the Fox News Channel, Palin herself responded to the former vice president, calling it a “misfire,” and saying that he had bought into the media’s story that has been generated over the last four years.
“Well, seeing as how Dick — excuse me, Vice President Cheney never misfires, then evidently, he’s quite convinced that what he had evidently read about me by the lamestream media having been written what I believe is a false narrative over the last four years, evidently, Dick Cheney believed that stuff, and that’s a shame,” Palin said. “So he characterized me as being a mistake.”
But Palin argued that the mistake wasn’t her selection. It would have been if she declined the nomination and pointed to her high numbers at the time of the 2008 presidential race that made her an attractive candidate.
“Here’s where the mistake would have been, Greta, I believe. It’s had I not answered the call — I was honored to get to run for vice president of the United States alongside Senator John McCain. I was honored to accept the nomination from the GOP. And I think that the mistake would have been me just deciding that, ‘Hey, I love my 86-87 percent approval rating up there in Alaska as the governor, moving and shaking and watching corrupt politicians and businessmen go to prison for crony capitalism, working on 16 to 20 percent of domestic energy supplies being able to be increased via Alaska’s resource development, ethics reform legislation that I was working on — that led to that 86 percent approval rating.”
“I could have decided, you know, ‘I don’t want to be bloodied up. I don’t want my family to go through what we will have to go through in order to put ourselves forward in the name of service to this country.’ But I did it. It would have been a mistake to have hunkered down, just lived that luxurious, if you will, comfortable lifestyle in Alaska.”
And that, according to Palin, is why it was not a mistake to accept McCain’s invitation.
“Instead, we, like so many other people across this country, decided we will do all that we can in order to defend our republic, put America back on the right track. And I believe I did the right thing in accepting that call.”
Host Greta Van Susteren pointed out that Palin did produce a spike in excitement after she joined McCain’s ticket in 2008, as an example of where Cheney’s disappointment may have fell short. The former Alaska governor explained the criticism away, calling it just the time to take some shots from the so-called “GOP establishment.”
“Everybody misfires once in a while,” Palin replied. “And you know what? In the GOP establishment, what I have found, Greta, sometimes you’re the Louisville Slugger, baby. Sometimes, you’re the ball. And evidently, in these last months, per many, many comments from those within the GOP establishment, I’m the ball. That’s OK. I’m out there working hard for Senate candidates, for House candidates, for those downstream positions that can help stop this failed policy that Obama has put in place.”
“And it’s going to take these people, whom I will, hopefully, be able to assist with in gaining some victory, along with other constitutional conservatives who are out there dedicating their lives to doing all that we can to transform in a very positive and restorative way — transform our government into something that is back on the side of the people instead of on our backs.”