It’s an easily forgotten footnote of history, but it’s interesting to look back and see that one of the left’s most hated enemies, Karl Rove, didn’t think it was a good idea for Bush to pick Dick Cheney, one of the left’s other most hated enemies, as his running mate.
In “Dead Certain: The Presidency of George Bush,” journalist Robert Draper writes that Rove told Bush he should not tap Cheney for the Republican ticket: “Selecting Daddy’s top foreign-policy guru ran counter to message. It was worse than a safe pick — it was needy.”
Depending on your point of view, you could argue that picking Cheney worked out well for Bush.
But if Rove thought the young guy with really limited Washington experience picking the longtime, graying/balding Washington insider was needy then… well, I guess we can guess what he thinks of Obama picking Biden now.