Former vice president Dick Cheney says that the nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008 was a mistake, dpa reported.
"I don't think she passed the test of being ready to take over," the conservative Republican told NBC news in an exclusive interview broadcast Sunday. "I think that was a mistake."
Senator John McCain, the conservative party's 2008 presidential nominee, named Palin his running mate after having only met her briefly. The hope was that a young woman would raise the profile of the campaign of the ageing McCain's campaign, who at 72 was the oldest US presidential candidate ever.
Celebrated as a radical young governor of wild Alaska, as a casually-dressed model mother like so many million American women, Palin - then 44 - quickly turned into a nightmare for the Republican campaign team.
Palin stumbled especially on foreign policy, saying for example that she was an expert on Russian affairs because she could see Russia from her home across the Bering Strait.
Many Republican voters withheld their vote because they worried about her ability to take over the top job if McCain was unable to serve.
"I like governor Palin. I met her, I know her, and she was an attractive candidate," Cheney prefaced his remarks by saying.
The Palin experience has put special pressure on US President Barack Obama's Republican rival, Mitt Romney, to choose a strong running mate before the November 6 elections. Romney is to be formally nominated in late August at the convention in Tampa, Florida.