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Sarah Palin did not "pass that test" of being ready to assume the presidency, according to Dick Cheney. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

McCain defends picking Palin after Dick Cheney criticism

The 2008 Republican nominee defends his vice-presidential pick after the last Republican VP slates her credentials.

FORMER US presidential candidate John McCain has defended his decision to pick former Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in his election – after the last Republican vice-president questioned her credentials for the job.

Dick Cheney, who was George W Bush’s vice-president for eight years between 2001 and 2009, said the choice of Palin – who was relatively unknown before being added to McCain’s ticket in 2008 – was “a mistake”.

He told ABC News that he had met and liked Sarah Palin, describing her as an an “attractive candidate” – but said her relative political inexperience meant she had not “passed that test… of being ready to take over”.

Though many observers have retrospectively questioned McCain’s decision to add Palin to his ticket, Cheney’s comments made him the highest-profile Republican to openly criticise her nomination.

In response, however, McCain took to Fox News to defend Palin and said he was “proud” of her.

“I’m always glad to get comments four years later,” McCain laughed, saying he and Cheney had had many policy disagreements on matters such as “whether we should torture people”, even though he respected the former vice-president.

The fact is, I’m proud of Sarah Palin. I’m proud of the job she did, I’m proud of the job she continues to do. [...]

I’m proud of what we did.

Cheney’s daughter Liz also questioned her father’s comments, taking to Twitter – where she is far from active – to vent her disagreement.

“Rarely do I disagree with best VP ever,” she wrote, referring to her father, “but @SarahPalinUSA [was] more qualified than Obama and Biden combined. Huge respect 4 all she’s done 4 GOP.”

Cheney’s interview with ABC News was his first since undergoing a heart transplant, an experience the former congressman and defence secretary said was life-changing.

Read: ‘Sarah Palin’ stripper booked for US Republican convention city

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13 Comments
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    Mute Peter B
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:34 PM

    Archdiocese and children are two words that should not be in the same sentence.

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    Mute Ian Downes
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:40 PM

    @Peter B: I was just going to comment that exact sentence. It’s incredible that the catholic church would be let anywhere near children, or women, or anyone at this stage.

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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Apr 29th 2021, 6:02 AM

    @Ian Downes: and yet people think it’s fine for them to run 90% of our schools.

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    Mute Derek Moran
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:42 PM

    Honestly who would ever leave a child alone with a priest these days?

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:54 PM

    @Derek Moran: The vast, vast majority of priests were, and are, decent people. But, hell, a good generalisation makes a good soundbite.

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    Mute Mango mango
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:57 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: do you have children? And would you?

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    Mute Lorcan OReilly
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:02 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: really so the majority of them were speaking out against abuse and helping bring offenders to justice?

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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Apr 29th 2021, 6:06 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: it doesn’t matter if the vast majority of them are decent.

    The organisation is rotten to the core.

    It was the Vatican who wrote the rules to move abusing priests to other parishes, it was the Vatican that wrote the rules about silencing victims, it is the Vatican that refuses to this day to release countless records to governments and the United nations.

    It was the Vatican who sent people over to a commission in Ireland and told victims they were lieing and only in it for the money.

    Imagine if the GAA did all this. What same person who deal with the GAA as a whole afterwards?

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    Mute Derek Moran
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    Apr 29th 2021, 7:32 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: I used to look after the IT for a bunch of them. I’ve seen their viewing history. Let’s just say it doesn’t correspond with their teachings.

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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:50 PM

    Church can’t be bothered to compensate abuse victims, spending money on child protection is a low priority.

    They have the money, it’s just tied up in assets, mainly land which they won’t sell.

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    Mute Mango mango
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:02 PM

    @Barry Somers: lay management companies have the money, they have it tied up on purpose. It really shows how much they care.

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    Mute Jukebox Jim
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:45 PM

    Neighbourhood cat ‘committed to protecting mice’ despite slaughtering mice at every available opportunity…

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    Mute Bunny Johnson
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    Apr 29th 2021, 11:19 AM

    @Jukebox Jim: superb analogy!

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    Mute Robert Thomas
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:28 PM

    “and monitors the activities of priests known to have abused children in the past in order to minimise the chance of them doing so again.”

    I know a better way to make sure it never happens again.

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    Mute Amanda Ui Fhaircheallaigh
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:40 PM

    Surely, the archdiocese is half as committed as protecting children

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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:16 PM

    @Amanda Ui Fhaircheallaigh: Wonder did ArchBishop take a pay cut.

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    Mute The only INFP in Ireland
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:49 PM

    ‘moniters the activities of priests known to have abused children in the past in order to minimise the chance of them doing so again’ Is this a joke?!

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    Mute Paul Whitehead
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    Apr 29th 2021, 8:23 AM

    This staff cut certainly sends out the wrong message, though I expect the majority of comments here would be exactly the same if they had doubled the number of staff working in child protection.

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    Mute alan
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    Apr 29th 2021, 12:40 PM

    @Paul Whitehead: Using the analogy above, two cats looking after the mice isnt exactly better than one

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