Politics

Cheney explains his Palin VP ‘mistake’ remark [VIDEO]

Jeff Poor Media Reporter
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In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, former Vice President Dick Cheney revisited his comment that former Gov. Sarah Palin’s nomination to the 2008 Republican presidential ticket was a “mistake,” saying that it wasn’t his intention to disparage Palin — but rather the process then-Republican nominee Sen. John McCain had put in place to select her.

Cheney took some heat from some on the right for his July 29 remarks.

“Well, I like Gov. Palin,” Cheney said. “I think she’s a very able and effective spokesman for the party, for conservative causes. She believes in a lot of the same things I believe in. I think she’s been very effective at that. The question I was addressing when I was interviewed was the question of process, and did I think, for example, that the McCain process that was used in 2008 met the standards the way I described them, and my answer was, ‘No’ — I didn’t think it did. It wasn’t the name so much Gov. Palin as the basic process that McCain used.”

Cheney had originally said it was important to determine if the person selected was ready to step into office and be president on their first day, and he said that McCain had failed to properly make that determination.

“I think experience is important as well, too,” he said. “You know, I voted for her, just like I voted for the ticket, but my point basically dealt with the process in terms of that basic requirement — is this person prepared to step in and be president of the United States when they’re picked. And it was my judgment — I was asked if I thought the McCain process in ’08 had been well done, or was it’s a mistake, I said I thought it was a mistake. That’s not so much a criticism of Gov. Palin as it is that I just thought it was not — that the process didn’t meet the standards I would like to see our candidate pursue when they pick a running mate.”

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