Er … sort of.

Former vice president Dick Cheney on Monday backed off his comment that it was “a mistake” for the GOP to pick Sarah Palin as its vice presidential nominee, suggesting the comment was more about the VP process than about Palin herself.

[...]

Cheney said in his interview with Hannity that his intention was not to criticize Palin, but rather the process of her selection.

“That’s not … meant so much as a criticism of governor Palin as it is that I just thought it was not — the process didn’t meet the standards I would like to see our candidate pursue when they pick a — a running mate,” Cheney said.

(Although we would argue that the two aren’t mutually exclusive; there’s only a mistake if the end result is a bad one. Palin’s selection was that end result, so there has to have been something wrong with her, in Cheney’s mind. If a good pick emerged from a flawed process, you wouldn’t call it “a mistake.”)

If nothing else, Cheney’s decision to walk back his comments shows just how much heft Palin retains when it comes to the conservative base. If Cheney, who has no more electoral ambitions for himself and generally says what he wants, is concerned about offending Palin, that says something about her political capital.

It’s also worth noting that Cheney’s daughter, Liz Cheney, came to Palin’s defense after her dad’s comments.

Probably the closest thing you’ll ever get to a walk back from Cheney, but a bit long on nuance and short on sincerity if you ask me. I agree with the WaPo’s assessment of the relative political heft between VP Cheney and Governor Palin. His was squandered a long time ago, and hers is only getting stronger. At least the former VP seems to recognize this reality.