Former US vice-president Dick Cheney has said that 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate was “a mistake” because of her inexperience.
Mr Cheney said in an interview with ABC News that the main criterion for anyone being considered as a potential future vice-president “has to be: ‘is this person capable of being the president of the United States?’” Mr Cheney, a prominent conservative who remains influential in Republican politics, said he personally likes Ms Palin. “I like Governor Palin. I’ve met her. I know her. She was an attractive candidate,” he said. “But based on her background – she had 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.”
Ms Palin was a first-term governor of Alaska when Arizona senator John McCain selected her as running mate four years ago.
McCain and Palin lost to the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Mr Cheney cited his experience in leading the search for running mates for two Republican presidential candidates – incumbent president Gerald Ford in 1976 and George W Bush in 2000. – (Reuters)