liz cheney bak

10 21 primary ~ banks BS 1/6 comm

719 promote 2nd on constant churn eg

post trump GOP civil war

pro coal so why CFG ~?

gaetz did stunt in her district, stefanic apostate --> trumpista harvard

big in 1st 1/6 hearing, laid out basis for trump crimes months ago

---

an 12 24

A former Republican staffer who has made headlines for his social media comments — and was once rumored to be on President-elect Donald Trump's list for attorney general — delivered another threat on Monday evening, this time to former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).

Cheney, a vocal critic of Trump, said in a statement Monday that Trump's suggestion that she and other members of the Jan. 6 committee see jail time "is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law."

"Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power," Cheney said in a statement obtained by Fox News. "He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building and halted the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten and the Capitol was assaulted, refusing for hours to tell the mob to leave."

Cheney later hit back at Trump’s claims the committee destroyed evidence, calling his statement "ridiculous and false."

"There is no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis for what Donald Trump is suggesting – a Justice Department investigation of the work of a congressional committee – and any lawyer who attempts to pursue that course would quickly find themselves engaged in sanctionable conduct," Cheney said.

Her statement caught the attention of right-wing allies on social media, including MAGA attorney Mike Davis, who served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and was the chief counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee under Chairman Chuck Grassley during the Trump administration. He played a significant role in the confirmation processes of several federal judges, including Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

"Try it, @LizCheney. When we sue your a-- into the ground, your daddy won’t be able to save you," he wrote Monday night.

Davis also reposted other MAGA accounts accusing her of suppressing evidence in the Jan. 6 probe.

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/she-knows-it-wasnt-stolen/ primary (debate?)

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/liz-cheney-buries-challengers-debate/4 clowns

// liz C RR libr after J6 #5 beast

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/right-wing-news-site-delivers-blistering-op-ed-on-trump-admitting-he-doesn-t-need-to-be-anywhere-near-the-white-house-again/

an 6 22

over the last several months, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has emerged as one of the most vocal Republican lawmakers to speak out against former President Donald Trump and his allies who advocated for his push to overturn the outcome of the presidential election.

While she has been applauded for her courage to speak out against the former president, one political action committee (PAC) is looking to use her work against her.

As the former Republican leader faces an uphill midterm election battle against Trump-backed candidate, Harriet Hageman, the Outrider PAChas made it its mission to not only bolster support for Hageman but also to make Cheney look as blemished as possible.

Per VOX Media:

Outrider PAC, a group founded earlier this month to boost Hageman, is out with a new ad this week, exclusively obtained by Vox, attacking Cheney — though not by name — and boosting Hageman. 'We need fewerDC divas and more problem solvers,'the ad says, hinting that Cheney is too involved in Washington 'fighting' while gas prices skyrocket. The ad heralds Hageman as a supporter of 'bipartisan efforts to increase American energy independence and help bring more of the supply chain back to the US.'

The group is reportedly preparing to spend six figures to push its campaign for Hageman. That amount is just a percentage of what is expected to be spent as this election campaign is projected to be one of the most expensive in Wyoming state history. Other far-right PACs are also launching political attacks against Cheney.

VOX Media reports:

An anti-Cheney super PAC, Wyoming Values, has already spent over $500,000 against the former GOP conference chair, whileClub for Growth, the influential conservative group, has targeted her since 2021 when it ran an ad painting her as a 'Clinton Republican.' However, according to the pro- Hageman strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the race frankly, Cheney’s major weakness in polling besides her opposition to Trump is the perception that 'she is disconnected from Wyoming.' [unlike dr oz]

In Outrider's latest ad, Cheney is being attacked for a number of reasons including "her ardent support of the energy industry in the biggest coal mining state in the country, and emphasizes Hageman, who is less well known in the state than Cheney, a second-generation member of Congress."

To hear that ad, click here.

The attacks being launched against Cheney come as the other Republicans who pushed back against Trump have faced daunting outcomes in the 2022 midterm elections. So far, none of the 10 Republican lawmakers who voted in favor of Trump's second impeachment have managed to win a 2022 midterm election.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/liz-cheney-problem-donald-trump/

sorta // VP, with trump a long time? 92%?

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/house-republicans-donald-trump-pardons/

1/6 hearing bombshell

Reacting to a revelation from Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) that several Republican Party lawmakers reportedly went hat in hand to Donald Trump and asked for pardons related to attempts to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) predicted they could be in big trouble.

In the midst of the first publicly televised Jan. 6 House committee hearing on the Capitol insurrection, the Wyoming Republican suggested that Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) was one of those lawmakers, telling the national TV audience, "Rep. Scott Perry … has refused to testify here. As you will see, Representative Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after Jan. 6 to seek a presidential pardon. Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election”

Asked about the accusation by CNN host Jim Sciutto, the former Republican lawmaker went off on a rant about some of his former associates.

"Another significant revelation from the Vice-Chair Liz Cheney yesterday is that several GOP lawmakers sought pardons from then-president Trump after January 6th, presuming, it seems, they had criminal exposure here," host Sciutto asked as CNN identified the four lawmakers as Perry along with Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Mo Brooks of Alabama. "What is your reaction? You're a former sitting Republican member of Congress, to hear that some of your former colleagues were looking for a pardon, felt they needed a pardon."

"It is clear to me they have a guilty mind, they think they may have done things that were illegal and potentially criminal and that's why they sought a preemptive pardon. That's simply astounding to me, one of the member's district was adjacent to mine, Scott Perry, and we all know he had made many outreaches to Jeffrey Clark at the DOJ and it is clear to me, again, that I just can't fathom that a member of Congress would ever seek a pardon, just -- it is really quite a stunning action."

"It really speaks to the idea of criminality that -- those are the only people who seek pardons and the fact that they -- that the actions that they took before or during the events of that day, they know that they -- they did something wrong," he continued. "So wrong that they sought a pardon. I can't imagine any -- most of my colleagues would ever have thought for a second to seek a pardon for anything. So it is clear to me that they know they're on the wrong side of this, and that's why they're trying not to participate in these hearings because they're exposed."

Watch below:

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/elise-stefanik-racist-terrorist-rhetoric/

stefanik

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/cheney/

Buff NY mass shooter

3 m$ raised

https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/liz-cheney-2657137310/

no lnx many twt

How ‘Kremlin-friendly’ MAGA Republicans — and Tulsi Gabbard — became propaganda for Russia’s Ukraine invasion

Alex Henderson March 14, 2022

Some conservative Republicans have been unwavering in their disdain for Russian President Vladimir Putin, including Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. But in MAGA World, Putin has a long list of apologists — even as thousands of people die during Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. And Never Trump conservative Amanda Carpenter, in an article published by The Bulwark on March 14, takes a look at some of the “Kremlin-friendly” talking points coming from America’s far right.

“During the Cold War,” Carpenter explains, “the Soviet Union invested heavily in its global disinformation and propaganda efforts. And back in 2016, the Russians had to go to the trouble of creating a troll farm to push their divisive messages to the American audience. But today, they needn’t go to such lengths: Plenty of prominent right-wing media figures in the United States are pushing out Vladimir Putin’s propaganda for him.”

The media figures and politicians that Carpenter slams as “Kremlin-friendly” in her article include Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, the Daily Wire’s Candace Owens, former President Donald Trump, “War Room” host Steve Bannon and Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina. Carpenter notes that these are the sort of MAGA Republicans Cheney has dubbed “the Putin wing of the GOP.”

“It’s all the same people: fringe internet figures, Fox News hosts, Steve Bannon and his acolytes, Marjorie Tayor Greene caucus members, and the millions of people who love them,” Carpenter observes. “Most of these people claim to be free-thinking contrarians, but their accusations, questions, and conclusions about the United States, Russia and Ukraine always seem to go one way: The United States and Ukraine are somehow wrong, and the Russians have their reasons for waging war. If you don’t believe that, it’s only because all the Democrats are lying to you. Well, all the Democrats except for 2022 CPAC special guest Tulsi Gabbard, anyway.”

Carpenter notes that Carlson’s commentary on Fox News has been “so Kremlin-friendly” that according to a Kremlin memo obtained by Mother Jones, Kremlin officials have asked government-run media outlets to feature more clips of him.

Mother Jones’ David Corn reported, “On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities as part of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his neighbor, the Kremlin sent out talking points to state-friendly media outlets with a request: Use more Tucker Carlson.”

Carlson has promoted the conspiracy theory that the Ukrainian government is manufacturing bioweapons in laboratories and that Putin is merely protecting Russia’s safety by invading Ukraine.

Carpenter comments, “One could have guessed that the same people who blamed Dr. Fauci for the coronavirus might try to find some other government bureaucrats to blame for Putin’s war. This time, according to Carlson, ‘Dangerous biological agents remain, thanks to the Biden Administration, unsecured in a chaotic war zone’…. This is the big story in their minds. Not the Russian invasion and the unfolding humanitarian disaster, but the Russian disinformation about bioweapons, which provides a cudgel for whacking the Biden Administration — no matter how bogus the claims.”

2 22

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) vowed to continue the House select committee's investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The Wyoming Republican published a defiant op-ed in the *Wall Street Journal* standing up to threats and attacks from Donald Trump and his allies and calling out fellow Republicans who enable their efforts to undermine the rule of law.

"Republicans used to advocate fidelity to the rule of law and the plain text of the Constitution," Cheney wrote. "In 2020, Mr. Trump convinced many to abandon those principles. He falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him because of widespread fraud. While some degree of fraud occurs in every election, there was no evidence of fraud on a scale that could have changed this one."

The committee has found no evidence to back Trump's fraud claims, and she said the former president knows he's lying.

"Almost all members of Congress know this — although many lack the courage to say it out loud," Cheney wrote. "Mr. Trump knew it too, from his own campaign officials, from his own appointees at the Justice Department, and from the dozens of lawsuits he lost. Yet, Mr. Trump ignored the rulings of the courts and launched a massive campaign to mislead the public."

The committee will hold hearings later this year to show the lies that provoked the violent insurrection, Cheney said, and she warned that other Trump allies will pay the price, as Rudy Giuliani has by losing his law license, for helping spread falsehoods.

"Those who do not wish the truth of Jan. 6 to come out have predictably resorted to attacking the process — claiming it is tainted and political," Cheney said. "Our hearings will show this charge to be wrong. We are focused on facts, not rhetoric, and we will present those facts without exaggeration, no matter what criticism we face."

https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/conservative-national-review-slams-the-rncs-cheney-kinzinger-censure-as-morally-repellent-in-a-blistering-editorial/

she has been saying explicitly for a while that trump broke law and shd be prosecuted (sedition?)

ENFORCER: how does he have infl on RNC?

an 2 22https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/liz-cheney-censure/

an RNC committee Thursday evening unanimously passed a resolution to censure GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. The resolution will be voted on by the full RNC, all 168 Republican National Committee members, Friday.

That resolution – submitted by Trump "dirty trickster" and GOP "shady partisan hit man" David Bossie – makes false claims about President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats,

"The Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress have embarked on a systematic effort to replace liberty with socialism; eliminate border security in favor of lawless open borders; create record inflation designed to steal the American dream from our children and grandchildren;neuter our national defense and a peace through strength foreign policy; replace President Trump's 'Operation Warp Speed' with incompetence and illegal mandates;and destroy America's economy with the Green New Deal."

The resolution also promotes the lie that participants in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol were merely "ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."

It calls for the RNC to "immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behavior which has been destructive to the institution of the House of Representatives, the Republican Party and is inconsistent with the position of the Conference."

Read:...

an 1 22

no lnx

Before the Donald Trump era, no one accused Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming of being a centrist — let alone a liberal or a progressive. But the arch-conservative congresswoman and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney has become an unlikely ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, playing a prominent role in Pelosi’s select committee on the January 6, 2021 insurrection. And MAGA Republicans are hoping to oust Rep. Cheney from the U.S. House of Representatives via a GOP congressional primary in Wyoming. One of them is far-right conspiracy theorist and Donald Trump devotee Frank Eathorne, who chairs the Wyoming Republican Party and is a member of the Oath Keepers militia.

In an article published by the Daily Beast on January 17, reporter Sam Brodey explains, “Frank Eathorne, who was revealed in a leak last year to be one of 191 Wyoming-based members of the far-right militia group, was in Washington for protests on January 6. But Eathorne is no rank-and-file fringe crank; he is the sitting chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party. That role has made him one of the more influential Republican officials in the country. Eathorne is presiding over what is perhaps the GOP’s highest-profile primary battle of the 2022 election: the MAGA-fueled campaign to unseat Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) for her unrelenting criticism of former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.”

Eathorne, Brodey notes, “has been one of the top figures fighting to defeat Cheney.” But the fact that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has been charged with seditious conspiracy along with other members of that militia group complicates things, according to Brodey — who points out that Eathorne “was not mentioned in the federal indictment of Oath Keepers” and “has not been arrested or charged with any offense in relation to January 6.”

“The Oath Keepers indictments mean that Eathorne’s aggressive efforts to keep the pressure on Cheney — in hopes of replacing her with a MAGA acolyte — are going to be complicated by his association with an extremist group facing grave, and rare, federal criminal charges,” Brodey observes. “Aside from his aggressive efforts to bring down Cheney, Eathorne has made national news for amplifying the most fringe of right-wing ideas. Appearing on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s podcast in 2021, he expressed interest in the idea of Wyoming seceding from the United States.”

Lindsay Schubiner, program director for the Western States Center, believes it is a “dangerous signal about the state of our democracy” when members of extremist organizations are in major leadership positions in the Republican Party. The Western States Center tracks extremist groups.

Schubiner told the Beast, “It’s troubling to see leaders in institutions that should be engaging in the democratic process not only condone paramilitaries, but officially join them.”

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

Stewart Rhodes, founder of right-wing Oath Keepers militia, spotted ... ›

Liz Cheney's moving with the urgency of someone racing against ... ›

Even arch-conservative Liz Cheney is now too liberal for some GOP ... ›...

gop civil war // liz c? she is kicked out of party?! [trms steele sez silly b/c it's however you register but naive?]

Christie torched for his disastrous Trump prediction as he tries to rehabilitate his image

Alex Henderson

November 16, 2021

In recent weeks, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — once an outspoken Donald Trump supporter — has been promoting himself as someone who has a conservative post-Trump vision for the Republican...

an 10 21

One of the two Republican lawmakers that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) removed from the Jan. 6 committee back in July has moved on to chart a new path with a shadow investigation of his own.

According to The Daily Beast, two sources familiar with the situation have said the that Rep. Jim Banks' (R-Ind.) investigative path has been similar to the one the select committee took. Per the publication, "Banks sent letters to many of the same federal agencies that the select committee's chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), has contacted for information regarding the U.S. Capitol attack."

Those agencies reportedly include the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, news outlets, social media platforms, and more.

Inside sources also shared details about Banks' letter, which were first reported by CNN. In "at least one of those letters,"Banks is said to have identified himself as a "ranking member" of a committee he did not actually serve on.

"You are receiving this letter because the House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate the events of January 6th may have sent you a request for information," Banks wrote in the letter. "The House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy appointed me to serve as the Ranking Member of the Select Committee. Yet, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to allow me to fulfill my duties as Ranking Member."

Although he was blocked from serving on the Jan. 6 panel after supporting former President Donald Trump's election lies, the Republican lawmaker claims he has a right to gain access to the information he is seeking.

"For those reasons, I ask that you provide me any information that is submitted to the Select Committee. Additionally, please include me on any update or briefing that you provide," Banks said.

Banks is now facing backlash for his efforts and being criticized for attempting attempting take matters in to his own hands. In fact Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has even**called out the lawmaker for falsely classifying himself as a ranking member of Congress**.

Despite Banks claims, Reps. Chene and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) are the only two Republican lawmakers who received official appointments from Pelosi.

former DHS official explains why Liz Cheney, a DOJ appointee and a Politico reporter anger pro-Trump Republicans so deeply

Alex Henderson

May 26, 2021

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on May 26, Paul Rosenzweig — who formerly served in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and now lectures at the George Washington University

The cult of worship': Here's why Liz Cheney is possibly a more insidious force than Donald Trump

Chauncey DeVega Salon

May 24, 2021

Last Wednesday, House Republicans voted against a bill that would establish a commission to investigate the coup attempt and attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. That outcome is in no way surprising. As a rule,

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/sen-anthony-bouchard/

cheney GOP challenger says girl he impregnated at 18 when she was 14 was 'like the Romeo and Juliet story’

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/rep-elise-stefanik/

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/liz-cheney-ouster/

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/liz-cheney-primary/

~ mil coup?!

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/liz-cheney-2652910382/

note God term

History is watching': Liz Cheney warns fellow Republicans have declared war on the Constitution itself

Alex Henderson

May 06, 2021

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming is the third highest ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, but that is likely to change because of her relentless criticism of former President Donald

won secret ballot huge but now will lose gig hot mic mccarthy; she wants to be spkr?

https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/liz-cheney/

https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/republicans/

no lnx

Republicans who keep a finger on reality are discovering that their voters have gone off the deep end

David Neiwert and Daily Kos February 02, 2021

It's becoming much clearer why Republicans in Congress are so reluctant to acknowledge factual reality—such as that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential fairly, or that Donald Trump incited a mob that attacked the Congress and ransacked the U.S. Capitol—and have doubled down on their embrace of anti-democratic disinformation that fueled the insurrection: If they dare admit any of it, they risk the insane wrath of the millions of GOP voters out there who have wholly swallowed all that false Trumpian propaganda.

That's become especially self-evident among Republicans at the state and local levels throughout the country in the weeks since the January 6 riot. As Hunter recently explained, the GOP at the ground level not only has fully embraced the conspiracist rot that Trump promoted after he lost, but it also has become even more openly extreme than it was before the election. Liz Cheney is finding that out.

Whenever Republicans have made any gestures toward acknowledging either Biden's win or Trump's seditionist behavior, as the Guardian recently reported, voters at the state and local level have responded with outrage and threats.

"The evidence is overwhelming that local parties across the country, in blue states and red states, are radicalized and support extremely far outside the mainstream positions like, for example, ending our democratic experiment to install Donald Trump as president over the will of the people," Tim Miller, former political director of Republican Voters Against Trump, told the Guardian.

"They believe in insane COVID denialism and QAnon and all these other conspiracies. It's endemic, not just a couple of state parties. It's the vast majority of state parties throughout the country."

The list is long and worrisome:

Arizona: The state Republican party last weekend re-elected Kelli Ward, a conspiracy-theory-promoting "Trump Republican" who unabashedly promoted the "election fraud" disinformation. Party officials also voted to censure Governor Doug Ducey for certifying Trump's loss in Arizona, along with Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain, and former Senator Jeff Flake, both for having supported Biden in the election.

Texas: The state Republican Party encouraged its members to follow them on Gab, the favorite social-media platform of white nationalists, with a pro-QAnon conspiracy trope: "We Are the Storm." Even after Biden's inauguration, the party insisted that he had won fraudulently: "It took a global pandemic, a thoroughly corrupt media, and massive election irregularities for President Trump to be removed from office," the GOP said in a statement on its website.

Hawaii:The Hawaii Republican Party's official account published a thread of tweets sympathizing with supporters of QAnon—dismissing cult's conspiracy theories that Democrats and media figures are secretly operating as global pedophilia ring, but arguing that adherents nonetheless were engaged in a form of patriotism. The same account also praised the "generally high quality" work of a Holicaust-denying YouTuber named Tarl Warwick, saying: "It is good to periodically step outside the 'bubble' of corporate commentators for additional perspective." The party deleted and condemned the tweets; the communications official who sent them resigned.

Oregon:The state's Republican Party issued a lengthy statement stuffed full of conspiracy theories and disinformation condemning the 10 Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach Trump after the insurrection. It claimed "there is growing evidence that the violence at the Capitol was a 'false flag' operation designed to discredit President Trump and his supporters." Some 23 Republican members of the state House repudiated the statement, noting that "there is no credible evidence to support false flag claims," adding that such rumormongering had become a distraction.

Wyoming: State activists opened up a campaign to "recall" Congressman Liz Cheney after she joined the Republicans voting to impeach Trump, and have collected over 55,000 signatures. Ten county-level parties in the state voted to censure Cheney. A state senator named Anthony Bouchard announced a 2022 campaign against the congresswoman. The Wyoming Republican state party said "there has not been a time during our tenure when we have seen this type of an outcry from our fellow Republicans, with the anger and frustration being palpable in the comments we have received."

Pro-Trump Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida even traveled to the state to lead a rally attacking Cheney. "We are in a battle for the soul of the Republican party, and I intend to win it," Gaetz told the rally.

The sentiments in Wyoming were deep and widespread. A Gillette woman named Shelley Horn started the Cheney recall petition, and told CNN: "You just can't go, 'Oh well, I need to vote with my conscience.' No! Vote for what your people put you in there to do. You're a Republican, you're supposed to back your party regardless."

Trump supporter Taylor Haynes told CNN, "In my view, she's done in Wyoming." A poll commissioned by the Trump political operation purportedly showed the impeachment vote had hurt her popularity. "Liz Cheney's favorables there are only slightly worse than her father's shooting skills," quipped Donald Trump Jr.

Other polls, however, supported the claim. A January 27 McLaughlin poll that showed 70% of Wyoming voters believe the impeachment trial was unconstitutional; more than two-third disapprove of Cheney's vote, and 63% say they are unlikely to vote for Cheney again.

Some longtime GOP figures defended her. Gale Geringer, a veteran Republican strategist, told CNN that Cheney showed "courage" in casting the Trump impeachment vote: "I don't underestimate the anger people are feeling right now. It's huge. And Liz Cheney has become the target of that anger, but I don't think she's really the cause of it. I think it's fear of what the Biden administration is going to do to Wyoming. We're petrified. Our entire economy, all of our jobs, our tax base has been threatened. And there's nothing we can do about Joe Biden for four years. But we can take that fear and anger out on Liz Cheney."

But Politico reporter Tara Palmieri tagged along with the CNN crew, and found it nearly impossible to find anyone in the state who wasn't angry with their Congressman. Her impression was that Cheney is in serious political trouble.

Honestly, it was hard to find anyone who would defend Cheney — and I really tried to talk to as many people as I could not at the rally. I stopped at a biker bar, a gun shop, a vape shop, a hardware store, a steakhouse, a diner, a dentist's office and a pawn shop …

— At Harbor Freight Tools, when I uttered the name "Liz Cheney," an employee behind the cash register hurled a threatening epithet. Then a beefy and tattooed supervisor, Torrey Price, 48, came over mad as hell. His mask hung below his nose when he told me, "I don't think she spoke for Wyoming."

Price never votes in primaries but said he will in August 2022 — to oust Cheney. He shared more of his thoughts: the election was stolen, the U.S. Capitol raid was staged, and the number of Covid deaths were grossly inflated. He and his colleague Joe agreed on all of these points, adding that they would not be getting the vaccine.

— At the Outlaw Saloon, I envied the way a recently vaccinated NYT reporter sauntered into the biker bar maskless, when earlier, a middle-aged DJ in a cowboy hat asked me for my credentials. Likely because there were only two masks in the bar — the one on my face and another on a table, with the words "political prisoner" printed in red. The guy who threw down that mask predicted the size of the rally against Cheney, telling me the night before, "I guarantee you there will be 600 people there." I didn't believe him.

— At the steakhouse, our comely waitress said "a lot of people are fired up" about Cheney. As a lifelong native of Wyoming, she said Cheney made a grave mistake by not representing the people of her state.

Palmieri concluded: "If there was any doubt this is still Trump's Republican Party, my time in Cheyenne dispelled it."

The push to embrace Trumpism is roiling other state Republican parties. In Wisconsin, where 15 Republican lawmakers signed a letter to Vice President Mike Pence the day before the D.C. riot urging him to postpone the certification, and two Republican congressmen, Scott Fitzgerald and Tom Tiffany, objected to the electoral votes, the party is divided into two camps: in several states that Biden won.

"The Republican Party right now is relatively divided, but it's not the traditional ideological divisions that used to be in place, as much as it's between the sane and insane wings of the party," RightWisconsin editor James Wigderson told the Madison Capital Times. "I think that there's a chance of a real fracture coming."

Establishment Republicans such as former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, however, defended the Trumpists for their paranoia and embrace of partisan disinformation: "That is the perspective they have, that is the view that they have and it's valid; you can't say someone's opinion of a subjective matter is invalid," she said. "I mean, what gives us the right to judge someone's opinion like that?"

In Michigan, where Republicans also embraced the "Stop the Steal" campaign prior to the insurrection, the impulse to maintain their embrace of Trumpism remains largely undiminished. The Allegan County Republican party censured Congressman Fred Upton because he voted to impeach Trump.

"Not a lot appears to be changing. We have former Ambassador Ron Weiser (expected to be the new Michigan GOP chair) and Meshawn Maddock (expected to be Weiser's co-chair)," WKAR politics reporter Abigail Censky observed. "(Maddock) led 'Stop the Steal' efforts in the state and was a key part of the kind of infrastructure to overturn the state's election results, which we know from bipartisan clerks and expert testimony was a fair and safe and secure election. It's interesting to see that that's kind of beyond reproach still, and that, that leadership is still going to go into place."

And in Georgia, Republican Party officials are grimacing at the wounds being inflicted on their voter-appeal operations by the presence of QAnon-loving Congressman Majorie Taylor Greene in the state's delegation, as well as in the media as her multiple conspiracist pronouncements—such as her approval of lynching House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—have come increasingly to light.

"If you have any common sense, you know she's an anchor on the party. She is weighing us down," said Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia Republican election administrator who criticized the baseless election conspiracy theories espoused by Trump and his supporters.

"Some people are saying maybe Nancy Pelosi will throw her out" of Congress, Sterling said. "The Democrats would never throw her out. They want her to be the definition of what a Republican is. They're gonna give her every opportunity to speak and be heard and look crazy — like what came out Wednesday, the Jewish space laser to start fires. I mean, I don't know how far down the rabbit hole you go."

The unhinged behavior and conspiracism is widespread. The Oregon GOP's statement was rife with conspiracy theories, including a passage explaining why they viewed the January 6 insurrection as a "false flag" operation:

Whereas this false flag will support Joe Biden plans to introducing new domestic terrorism legislation likely placing more emphasis on themes from post-9/11 Patriot Act such as allowing those charged with terrorism to be automatically detained before trial, outlawing donations to government-designated terrorist groups, allowing electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists, letting the government use secret sources in those trials, and perhaps new provisions such as codifying putting conservatives on a secret no-fly list without recourse to due process and restricting free speech, similar to the Sedition Act of 1798, which criminalized making "false statements" critical of the Federal government.

The peculiar combination of self-righteousness, persecution complex, and projection endemic to extremist conspiracism were omnipresent. Shelley Horn, the Wyoming petitioner, blamed Cheney's impeachment vote for dividing the nation: "It's just sows more hate and division," Horn told the Cowboy State Daily, "and people are tired of it. Our country can't stand much more."

As Zack Beauchamp observed at Vox:

It's obvious that some of the party's national leaders, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, don't actually believe in these conspiracy theories. But for too long, the party has been comfortable letting their rank-and-file supporters believe them because it's politically advantageous. Now, true believers are rising up and capturing the leadership of state parties and local activist groups — putting pressure on national politicians to conform to extreme ideas or risk a serious primary threat.

This makes the GOP's post-Trump trajectory look even scarier. No one person or organization is in charge of the party, in a position to fix the root causes of its continuing turn toward extremism. Reforming the party requires a fight on multiple levels and in multiple arenas: reforms to the local and national party, transformations of both the party and adjacent institutions like Fox News.

This what Barack Obama adroitly describes as America's "epistemological crisis." It will not stop happening as long as there are news organs that traffic in falsehoods as a profit model, and who devote 24 hours a day, seven days a week of broadcast time using those lies to coach half of the nation how and why to hate the other half—and politicians who gleefully profit from it as well.

"Warmongering neoconservative’ Liz Cheney is right about impeachment — but awful in so many other ways: journalist

Alex Henderson

February 10, 2021

During Donald Trump's four years in the White House, the bar was often so low that any conservative who was willing to call him out when he did something horrible was likely to be praised by Democrats. And now, with the former president facing his second impeachment...

note change in leadership (gop?) rare?

an 220

Wednesday night, Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney survived a secret ballot vote in the House GOP caucus, allowing her to keep her position as third highest-ranking member of its leadership. Only 61 Republican members voted to remove her from her leadership role, with141 voting in favor of her staying in place, a significant blow for the pro-Trump faction of the party that sought to punish her for voting to impeach the former president.

Among the most vocal of Cheney's critics was Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who had recently traveled to Wyoming to campaign against her. He had confidently boasted about having enough votes to oust her from leadership, suggesting the plan would only fail if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy blocked the effort.

"My concern is that though today, we have the votes to remove Liz Cheney, somehow the establishment's going to find a way to kick the question, avoid a vote," he had said....

an 121

although the Trump era officially ended on Wednesday, January 20 when Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States and Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president, Trumpism has not disappeared from the GOP — and prominent Republicans are still being attacked for being insufficiently Trumpian. One of them is Rep. Liz Cheney, who is already facing a GOP primary challenge in Wyoming for 2022.

The wingnut challenger is Wyoming State Sen. Anthony Bouchard, founder of the group Wyoming Gun Owners. Bouchard has announced his plan to challenge Cheney for the GOP nomination in Wyoming next year. And as Bouchard sees it, Cheney — the 54-year-old daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and the chair of the House Republican Conference — isn't right-wing enough.

In the minds of Trumpistas, Cheney committed a cardinal sin when, in late 2020, she acknowledged Biden as president-elect. The congresswoman refused to support Republican efforts to overturn the Electoral College results, and after pro-Trump extremists violently stormed the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, she came out in favor of impeaching Trump. Cheney declared, "There has never been a greater betrayal by a president."

We have sworn an oath under God to defend the Constitution. We uphold that oath at all times, not only when it is p… https://t.co/sAJXBENSfo

— Liz Cheney (@Liz Cheney)1609935094.0

Bouchard has attacked Cheney for voting to impeach Trump for incitement to sedition, and he has said that Cheney needs to "stand up to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats, and not give them cover." In other words, Bouchard's loyalty is to former President Donald Trump, not to the U.S. Constitution or the rule of law.

washington Post opinion columnist Henry Olsen notes that "unsurprisingly," Bouchard "appears to be an active fan of" Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Greene and Boebert are both known for their support of the wacky QAnon conspiracy cult, which believes that the U.S. federal government has been infiltrated by an international cabal of Satanists, pedophiles, child sex traffickers and cannibals and that Trump was put in the White House to lead the battle against the cabal. But now that Trump is no longer president, it remains to be seen where QAnon will go from here.

WYOMING. State Sen Anthony Bouchard (R) launches 2022 GOP primary run vs Cong Liz Cheney (R), attacks her as "turnc… https://t.co/3xELWIE1V3

— Politics1.com (@Politics1.com)1611167884.0

Of course, Cheney is hardly a centrist, let alone a liberal or a progressive. But she isn't a QAnon extremist either.

One need only read the rhetoric on Bouchard's website to realize how much of a Trumpista he is. The site declares, "Anthony Bouchard is running for Congress to stand up and defend our rights and our republic against angry Socialists and their allies in Big Tech, academia and the Fake News Media," and it even emulates Trump's use of capitalization.

Another Republican who might give Cheney a primary challenge in 2022 is retired U.S. Air Force officer Bryan Miller. Politico's Alex Isenstadt quotes Miller as saying, "The stance taken by Liz was very contentious here in Wyoming. This isn't going to be a passing thing that just goes away. It's growing and growing and growing every day across the state. People are unhappy."

In his Post column, Olsen argues that if Cheney doesn't prevail over Bouchard in Wyoming next year, it will be terrible for the Republican Party.< The leaders of the party of Abraham Lincoln need to imitate him if they are to prevail," Olsen writes. "The 16th president united anti-slavery Democrats, old Whigs, German immigrants and Northerners more concerned with preserving the Union than stopping the expansion of slavery with an aggressive, yet intricate, rhetoric that excited true believers and reassured the fearful. If Cheney can take a page from Lincoln's playbook and decisively defeat Bouchard, she will do more than save her own skin — she'll show everyone how they can save the party's skin, too." https://www.alternet.org/2018/06/time-mike-pence-praised-donald-trump-14-times-less-3-minutes/ A Republican group of fake Georgia 'electors' met to vote for Trump ... Cheney challenges VP Pence on foreign policy › ...Other legislators supported by Club for Growth includeMatt Rosendale, who this week called for the resignation of fellow Republican Liz Cheney after she said she would support impeachment of the president, and Lance Gooden, who accused Pelosi of being just as responsible for last week’s riot as Trump.

Dozens of the Republicans supported by Club for Growth voted to challenge the election results even after insurrectionist stormed the Capitol, which led to five deaths, including the murder of a police officer....

https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/conservative-writer-warns-the-gop-is-increasingly-embracing-the-utter-lunacy-of-qanon/

no lnx twt vid?

Conservative writer warns the GOP is increasingly embracing the ‘utter lunacy’ of QAnon

Written by Alex Henderson August 14, 2020

On Tuesday, August 11, the QAnon conspiracy cult enjoyed a major victory when far-right QAnon supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene won a Republican primary in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District and was congratulated by President Donald Trump — who wasn’t the least bit troubled by her pro-QAnon views. And veteran conservative pundit/author Mona Charen, in an article published in The Bulwark on August 13, laments the willingness of prominent Republicans to endorse those who embrace the “utter lunacy” of QAnon.

The QAnon cult believes that Trump was elected president to combat an international pedophile/child sex ring that operates within the U.S. government and that an anonymous figure named “Q” is providing updates on Trump’s battle. Greene, in a 2017 video that has been posted on YouTube, expressed her solidarity with QAnon. And considering how deeply Republican her district is, Greene has a very good chance of defeating the Democratic candidate, tech worker Kevin Van Ausdale, in November and taking a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2021.

Charen explains: “Pizzagate morphed into the QAnon conspiracy in which Q followers wait for signals from their leader that a vast conspiracy of Satanic child abusers, run by the ‘Deep State,’ George Soros, the Supreme Court, and God knows who else is about to be unmasked.Did I mention that they think Beyoncé is only pretending to be black? It’s a hydra-headed thing, this conspiracy, and contains multitudes. But the one common thread is this: the great deliverer will be Donald J. Trump.”

QAnon, Charen writes, is a “paranoid conspiracy (theory that) has gathered momentum at the Republican grassroots.”

Greene is not an anomaly: support for QAnon has been growing in the Republican Party.

“No fewer than 60 current or former congressional candidates have expressed interest in or support for the QAnon conspiracy,” Charen laments. “One of them, Jo Rae Perkins, got the Republican nomination for Senate in Oregon. And now, Marjorie Taylor Greene seems almost certain to be going to Congress.”

Charen notes that although some prominent Republicans condemned Greene — including Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise — Trump and others have embraced her.

“Greene received backing from the House Freedom Fund, an arm of the House Freedom Caucus,” Charen observes. “Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and former Rep. Mark Meadows, now Trump’s chief of staff, also backed Greene.”

To make matters worse, Charen adds, Greene critics like Kinzinger are being slammed by Trump supporters for speaking out against her.

Voters in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, Charen points out, could have chosen her GOP primary rival, Dr. John Cowan — who she describes as a “gun-rights-supporting, anti-abortion Trump loyalist” — to run against Van Ausdale. Instead, they went with someone even further to the right: a QAnon extremist.

“It’s odd that Republicans, who pride themselves on their practical understanding of life — incentives matter, money doesn’t grow on trees, personal responsibility is essential to a well-ordered society — should display such a marked weakness for utter lunacy,” Charen laments. “I don’t offer an explanation, just a warning. This disordered thinking is no longer just a fringe phenomenon.”

https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/republicans-are-at-each-others-throats-as-they-veer-toward-electoral-self-sabotage/

no lnx twt

every day, new polls come out that show Republicans in dire straits for the 2020 election. And it’s no surprise — the economy is collapsing and the country is ravaged by a devastating pandemic, events that President Donald Trump is in no small part to blame for.

But the stress of impending doom isn’t focusing GOP minds or encouraging them to band together. Instead, the pressure seems to be tearing them apart. And in their dysfunction, they may be ready to thwart the country’s best chances of muddling through the present devastation further undermining their own electoral standing heading into November.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) has been the subject of much internal scrutiny and discord, as multiple reports and public comments have revealed. Though at times she has sought the president’s favor, she broken with him at key points recently — inspiring the wrath of his fierce congressional defenders.

CNN reported that she became a target at Tuesday’s Republican conference:

Several House Republicans attacked House GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming during a conference meeting Tuesday morning for supporting Dr. Anthony Fauciand splitting with President Donald Trump on a variety of issues over the past few months, three sources who were in the room told CNN.

Members including Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Chip Roy of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Ralph Norman of South Carolina all chimed in to air grievances against Cheney.

…

During the conference meeting, Gaetz and Massie complained about Cheney supporting a primary challenge to Massie, the sources said. Jordan, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, listed areas where Cheney has publicly disagreed with the President,pointing to her resistance to Trump’s plan to pull back troops in Germany and Afghanistan.

Roy hit Cheney for supporting Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, and complained that his Democratic opponent has retweeted some of Cheney’s tweets.

But the acrimony also spilled over into public:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), too, let loose on Cheney to the media.

“I mean she tries to sabotage everything he tries to do in foreign policy, so I don’t know whether she’s a good advocate for the President or not,” he told CNN.

He also said: “I don’t think she’s good for the country.”

Meanwhile, rifts are forming over what to do with the next coronavirus relief bill. On that matter, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) have found themselves on opposite sides.

The Washington Post’s James Hohmann reported that Cruz fumed at Cotton’s advocacy for more spending at a recent meeting, exclaiming: “What in the hell are we doing?”

According to Axios, the primary rift falls between Senate Republicans and the Trump White House.

“The Senate Republican lunch descended into chaos, several GOP lawmakers said, revealing that the White House and Republican senators remain far apart on key priorities in the next economic package,” reported Alayna Treene. “The White House officials did little talking, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told reporters. Instead, senators used the time to air their disagreements. ‘There’s a robust difference of opinion,’ Hawley said.”

Once again, Paul aired his frustrations publicly:

Democrats, on the other hand, remain united. The House passed a $3 trillion spending bill in May that the Senate and the White House have refused to move on.

“Republicans are in complete disarray,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), according to the Washington Post. “Totally incompetent. Totally in disarray. Totally at war with one another.”

CNBC reported Wednesday afternoon that the GOP is drifting toward potentially passing a bill that would extend the expanded unemployment insurance in the country after it is supposed to expire this week — but at a drastically reduced rate:

Republicans are considering extending the enhanced unemployment insurance benefit at a dramatically reduced level of $400 per month, or $100 a week, through the rest of the year, sources told CNBC.

Congress passed a $600 per week, or $2,400 a month, boost to jobless benefits in March to deal with a wave of unemployment unseen in decades as states shut down their economies to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The policy expires at the end of July as the U.S. unemployment rate stands above 11%, despite two strong months of job growth.

The GOP, which has not made a final decision on how it will craft unemployment insurance in a bill set to be released this week, previously discussed extending the benefit at an additional $200 per week instead of $600. Democrats want to make the $600 per week sum available at least until next year.

This plan, it should be clear, would be disastrous. There are still many millions of people unemployed because of the initial downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Many are desperate and only scraping by as is. Slashing their benefits by $2,000 a month, with the virus resurgent and the economy at risk of getting worse, would be a brutal blow.

Even if Republicans were to eventually agree with Democrats and extend the $600 a week expanded unemployment (an unlikely scenario), observers expect the program will still lapse before it is renewed. This means recipients would face a gap in the payments they’ve been receiving, which could itself cause a major shock to the economy.

And all this rancor, dithering, and lack of urgency are likely to be electoral poison for the GOP. With a devastated economy and an out-of-control virus, the ruling party is likely to lose the White House and congressional seats no matter what it does. But guaranteeing economic distress and continued uncertainty for millions of families while the country is trying to recover from financial collapse would be a spectacular form of Republican self-sabotage.

bolton fired as scapegoat or roadblock? couple times djt was going to do the right thing until Liz Ctucker etc base cheer/mob leaders make him 180?

Trump Calls Off Secret Afghanistan Meeting, Putting Fate of Possible Peace Deal in Question
resident Trump announced on Twitter Saturday he was calling off a “secret” meeting between himself, the Afghan president and Taliban leaders that may have led to the withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops from Afghanistan — although reports raise questions about the meeting’s details and who exactly was to take part. Trump said his decision was due to a Taliban car bomb last Thursday that killed 12 people, including a U.S. soldier, in Kabul. Trump also said all further negotiations were being called off.

The U.S. and Taliban had appeared close to an agreement after holding nine rounds of talks in Doha, even though the Afghan government had not taken part in those meetings. The New York Times reports Trump wanted the deal to be announced at the Camp David meeting so he would be perceived as the dealmaker who pulled the peace deal together. But according to the Times, Taliban negotiators had agreed to come to the United States only after a deal was announced and only to meet with the American side. There are also questions about why Trump canceled the secret meeting. We’ll have more on this story after headlines.

https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/liz-cheney-panned-for-bemoaning-grizzly-bear-protections-championed-by-indigenous-groups-because-theyre-destroying-our-western-way-of-life/

no lnx

Liz Cheney panned for bemoaning grizzly bear protections championed by indigenous groups because they’re ‘destroying our western way of life’

Written by Julia Conley / Common Dreams August 4, 2019

Native tribes and their supporters on Friday defended their push for the continued inclusion of the grizzly bear of Yellowstone National Park on the endangered species list, after Rep. Liz Cheney claimed the protection of the bear violates the “Western way of life.”

The bear was officially returned to the list created by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Tuesday, nearly a year after a federal judge found that the Trump administration had exceeded its authority when it attempted to remove the species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) sought to allow trophy hunters to shoot the Yellowstone bears, whose population in the park is just over 700, and to open up the public lands for fossil fuel industries. Native tribes including the Crow and Northern Cheyenne tribes joined with the Humane Society and Wildearth Guardians to fight the administration.

When the bear was officially returned to the list this week, Wyoming Republican Cheney claimed that the so-called “radical” groups were “intent on destroying our Western way of life” and had pushed for a rule that was “needless and harmful to the ecosystem.”

The Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council (RMTLC), which testified at a congressional hearing in May on the Tribal Heritage and Grizzly Bear Protection Act, took issue with Cheney’s suggestion that hunters and oil companies’ desire to profit off the demise of the grizzly bear trumps the heritage of native tribes and the need for biodiversity.

“So, in striving to protect our culture, our religious and spiritual freedoms, our sovereignty, and our treaty rights—all of which are encapsulated in the grizzly issue—we are ‘destroying’ Cheney’s idea of the ‘Western way of life’?” Tom Rodgers, senior adviser to the RMTLC, told Native News Online.

“I would remind the congresswoman that at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition an estimated 100,000 grizzly bears roamed from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast,” he added. “That was all Indian Country. Now there are fewer than 2,000 grizzly bears and our people live in Third World conditions on meager reservations in the poorest counties in the U.S. Does she really want to talk about ‘destroying’ a ‘way of life’?” asked Rodgers.

Progressive congressional candidate Mckayla Wilkes was among the critics who took to social media to slam Cheney’s comments, calling them “absolutely surreal” considering the centuries-long and continued destruction of Native tribes’ “way of life” by numerous government policies.

Mckayla Wilkes for Congress

@MeetMckayla

.@Liz_Cheney actually said this.

Because of efforts to conserve the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Area.

Absolutely surreal.https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/rep-cheney-accuses-tribes-of-destroying-our-western-way-of-life-over-sacred-grizzly-protections/ …

Rep. Cheney Accuses Tribes of “Destroying our Western Way of Life” Over Sacred Grizzly Protections

Published August 1, 2019 RIVERTON, Wyo. — On a momentous day for Tribal Nations, Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY), the House Republican Conference Chairwoman, stated that the successful litigation b…

nativenewsonline.net

207

7:17 AM - Aug 2, 2019

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Bill Prady

@billprady

Liz Cheney is very upset that the people whose land was taken have interfered with the people who took the land. https://twitter.com/SophiaTesfaye/status/1157120609085796358 …

Sophia Tesfaye

@SophiaTesfaye

Liz Cheney blasts native tribes for “destroying our Western way of life.”

The GOP lawmaker is upset that the tribes successfully got grizzly bears placed back on the endangered species list http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/rep-cheney-accuses-tribes-of-destroying-our-western-way-of-life-over-sacred-grizzly-protections/ …

Rev. Travis Akers

@travisakers

On a momentous day for Tribal Nations, Liz Cheney (R-WY) stated the court victory by tribes and environmentalists to return grizzly bears to the Endangered Species list was intended to “destroy our Western way of life,” a reference to trophy hunting.http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/rep-cheney-accuses-tribes-of-destroying-our-western-way-of-life-over-sacred-grizzly-protections/ …

Rep. Cheney Accuses Tribes of “Destroying our Western Way of Life” Over Sacred Grizzly Protections

nativenewsonline.net

4:57 AM - Aug 3, 2019

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A.R. Moxon (Julius Goat)

@JuliusGoat

I unequivocally support native tribes destroying Liz Cheney’s way of life https://twitter.com/sophiatesfaye/status/1157120609085796358 …

Sophia Tesfaye

@SophiaTesfaye

Liz Cheney blasts native tribes for “destroying our Western way of life.”

The GOP lawmaker is upset that the tribes successfully got grizzly bears placed back on the endangered species list http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/rep-cheney

Dave Zirin

@EdgeofSports

Can’t decide if @Liz_Cheney or her venal father is the more comically villainous. https://twitter.com/sophiatesfaye/status/1157120609085796358 …

Sophia Tesfaye

@SophiaTesfaye

Liz Cheney blasts native tribes for “destroying our Western way of life.”

As Native News Online reported, the USFWS worked closely with the fossil fuel services company Amec Wheeler Foster—whose CEO is a former executive of Halliburton, the multinational company whose Cheney’s father led in the 1990s—to conduct a peer review of its proposed rule de-listing the bear.

“That puts ‘harmful to the ecosystem’ into its true context,” Rodgers told the outlet.

Cheney introduced the Grizzly Bear State Management Act earlier this year to de-list the bear through congressional action.

As Rodgers told Native News Online, however, “There’s more chance of her father receiving the Nobel Peace Prize than her Grizzly Bear State Management Act reaching the House floor.”

hmmn beware anecdote twitterverse

https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/internet-shreds-appalling-human-being-liz-cheney-after-disastrous-cbs-interview-im-a-republican-and-im-embarrassed/

Internet shreds ‘appalling human being’ Liz Cheney after disastrous CBS interview: ‘I’m a Republican and I’m embarrassed’

Written by Tom Boggioni / Raw Story July 21, 2019

Twitter commenters were appalled by the conduct of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) during her interview with Margaret Brennan on CBS, calling out the high-ranking GOP lawmaker for being downright “obnoxious” when asked to answer simple questions about President Donald Trump.

The interview, during which the combative Cheney chastised her host for not asking the questions she wanted to answer, was cut short by Brennan which led viewers to comment on how badly Cheney came across.

As one Twitter user wrote, “I’m a Republican and I am embarrassed that Rep. Liz Cheney —the daughter of a damn war criminal— has a leadership position in my party.”

You can read some responses below:

NEW: @RepLizCheney says that the “send her back” chant at @RealDonaldTrump’s rally was “absolutely wrong” and “it should not have happened” but adds she hopes the media instead focuses “on what this wing of the Democrat party is advocating.”

Embedded video

Al-Ghazi

@al_ghazi1

I’m a Republican and I am embarrassed that @RepLizCheney—the daughter of a damn war criminal—has a leadership position in my party.

Joe Lockhart

@joelockhart

Has Liz Cheney replaces Matt Gaetz as the most obnoxious member of Congress?

Face The Nation

@FaceTheNation

Liz’s soul is lost. I’m not sure going to church now can save it.

WTF!!! Called out Margaret as a liberal and therefore a foe. Minimized the content of Trump’s statement and double talked her way to support policies we never hear about. She’s looking for a job in the administration.

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Daniel Benjamin Quam

@bendapplegate

@RepLizCheney needs therapy. In dealing with her type I've learned absolutely nothing. She is if no more use than a frog's fart to me.

8:16 AM - Jul 21, 2019

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Regina Buckley

@ReginaBuckley19

@FaceTheNation How obnoxious of a person! Liz Cheney.

8:24 AM - Jul 21, 2019

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AlterNet

@AlterNet

CBS cuts off combative interview with Liz Cheney after she attacks host for asking about Trump’s racism https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/cbs-cuts-off-combative-interview-with-liz-cheney-after-she-attacks-host-for-asking-about-trumps-racism/ …

CBS cuts off combative interview with Liz Cheney after she attacks host for asking about Trump’s...

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) accused CBS host Margaret Brennan of unfairly bringing race into a discussion after President Donald Trump told four non-white Democratic congresswomen to “go back” to where...

alternet.org

Harold Jacman

@jacman6222

@RepLizCheney is an autocratic, tyrannical, punative, manipulative liar just like her father! Good for @margbrennan for RESISTING her tyranny! @CBSNews @CBS

...

@tedlieu

Dear @RepLizCheney: I'm an immigrant. We disagree on policy. But I would never tell you to go back from where you came. When people tell me to leave America or go back to China, it's based on race. If I was white, I would not get that insult. Happy to discuss on the House Floor. https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1152962697299943424 …

crooksandliars.com

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey started early by injecting his absurdly excessive reactions, saying, “Words cannot express my disappointment at this terrible decision. I am embarrassed for Nike.”And Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), chimed in as well, saying the “decision to cancel Betsy Ross shoe is ridiculous.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made a comment that I still haven’t entirely deciphered yet:

This was the week that a “controversy” continued over what to call the facilities where the United States government is housing migrant children who have been separated from their parents in filthy, disgusting, unsafe and unhealthy conditions. Last week, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the detention facilities run by the Trump administration “concentration camps” and was immediately attacked by Republicans like Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming for making light of the Holocaust.

And this was the week that we learned the government is spending $775 per child per day to house migrant children in the temporary tent camps it is running along the border and in southern Florida.

Liz Cheney and right-wing outrage machine lie about Rashida Tlaib — corporate media and Trump do the rest

Eoin Higgins / Common DreamsMay 13, 2019

A measured and nuanced discussion of the Holocaust, Israel, and Palestinians was intentionally mischaracterized by right-wing media and politicians Sunday, leading to corporate media and the president amplifying dishonest attacks on…

Enzi won't run again, makes opening for Cheney

By Geof Koss in E&E Daily 6:45 AM EDT

Four-term Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) announced he will retire instead of seeking reelection, creating an opening for Rep. Liz Cheney (R) to pursue a rare open Senate seat in the sparsely populated state.

already running?

Ilhan Omar Attacks Israel. Liz Cheney Demolishes Her With One ...

https://www.dailywire.com/.../ilhan-omar-attacks-israel-liz-cheney-demolishes-hank-b...

4 hours ago - Ilhan Omar (D-MN) attacked Israel once again, blaming Israel for ... Liz Cheney, furious, fired back with a blistering tweet, blasting, “how many ...

Democrats were trying to ‘protect’ Rep. Ilhan Omar with broad resolution denouncing hate, Rep. Liz Cheney says

Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) stands with fellow Democrats as they rally outside the Capitol ahead of the passage of a bill that aims to expand voting rights and strengthen ethics rules, on March 8, 2019. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

By Felicia Sonmez March 10

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said Sunday that House Democrats were trying to protect Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) with last week’s resolution broadly denouncing hate, as a Democratic co-author of the measure pushed back, arguing that “history is going to judge” those who voted against it.

Cheney was one of 23 lawmakers, all Republicans, who opposed the resolution, which condemned anti-Semitism and discrimination against Muslims in equal measure and overwhelmingly passed the House on Thursday. Democrats had introduced the resolution in an effort to move past alleged anti-Semitic comments by Omar, a freshman Muslim congresswoman.

In an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Cheney described the House resolution as “clearly an effort to actually protect Ilhan Omar, to cover up her bigotry and anti-Semitism by refusing to name her.”

“They are protecting her by failing to put a resolution on the floor that names her and strips her of her committee assignment. Instead, they put a resolution on the floor which she then went out and said, ‘This is a tremendous victory for me,’” Cheney said.

Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), one of the resolution’s lead sponsors, pushed back in an interview on MSNBC on Sunday afternoon. He called the measure the most powerful anti-Semitism resolution “in the history of the United States Congress” and argued that those who opposed it were wrong to do so.

“History is going to judge them very harshly for that,” Raskin said.

He went on to take aim at President Trump for his campaign’s closing TV ad during the 2016 race. The ad — which featured images of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and then-Federal Reserve Chair Janet L. Yellen, all of whom are Jewish — was “the most anti-Semitic TV ad in American history,” Raskin said.

After last week’s vote, Omar issued a statement with fellow Muslim Reps. André Carson (D-Ind.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) calling the vote “historic on many fronts” for denouncing “all forms of bigotry.”

“Our nation is having a difficult conversation and we believe this is great progress,” they wrote.

Omar has been the subject of verbal attacks and threats in recent weeks, including a sign posted in the West Virginia State Capitol that falsely linked her to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Asked about concerns among House Democrats that naming Omar would have made her a target of more threats in the future, Cheney argued that Democratic leaders were nonetheless “enabling anti-Semitism” by crafting a broad resolution.

“I think it is absolutely shameful that Nancy Pelosi and Leader [Steny H.] Hoyer and the Democratic leaders will not put her name in a resolution on the floor and condemn her remarks and remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” the Republican lawmaker said.

Trump has sought to use the resolution against Democrats, arguing on Friday that the party has become “anti-Israel” and “anti-Jewish.”

“I thought yesterday’s vote by the House was disgraceful,” he told reporters. “I thought that vote was a disgrace, and so does everybody else if you get an honest answer.”

Democrats on Sunday disputed that characterization, with Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.) noting that the resolution passed on a bipartisan basis.

“I don’t think that there’s any validity to what he’s saying,” Hill said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” She added that “if we’re going to condemn one sort of behavior, then why should we isolate it to one group? We should condemn all forms.”

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.) said that while he backed the resolution, he understood why some members of his party chose not to.

“I voted for it because you shouldn’t hate people, period, end of story,” Hurd said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We learn that stuff in kindergarten. What I think many of my colleagues were doing in voting against it was lodging their being upset about [the fact] that this was watered down; it wasn’t narrow.”

Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.

beat up BO for weak on russia? http://themoderatevoice.com/russias-opposition-and-liz-cheney-allies-confronting-obama-nezavisimaya-gazeta-of-russia/

oops 2x one elizabeth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Perry

**philip J. Perry** (born October 16, 1964) is an

American attorney and was a political appointee in the administration of George W. Bush. He was acting associate attorney general at the Department of Justice, general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget, and general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security. He is a partner at Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C. He is the son-in-law of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

[hide]

Early life and education:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Perry was born in San Diego County, California. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Colorado College in 1986. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Cornell Law School in 1990.^[1]

Career:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Counsel to United States Senate/campaign finance abuse:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

In 1997–98, Perry was counsel to the United States Senate hearings on campaign finance abuses in the 1996 presidential campaigns.^[1]

2000 Presidential Transition Team:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

In 2000, he was a policy advisor for the Bush-Cheney presidential transition team and an advisor on the Vice Presidential Debate preparation team.^[2] Of Perry, Cheney said, "He was tough...much tougher than I would have been on my father-in-law."^[2]

Department of Justice:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Perry joined the Department of Justice and served in a number of roles before being named acting associate attorney general (the Department’s third-ranking official), overseeing DOJ's five civil litigating units: Civil, Tax, Environment and Natural Resources, Antitrust, and Civil Rights.^[3]

Office of Management and Budget:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

In 2002, Perry then moved to the White House to be general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)under the then-Director Governor Mitch Daniels. In that capacity, Perry supervised the White House's clearance of federal regulations, mediated interagency disputes, addressed matters on the DOJ's civil litigation docket, formulated presidential executive orders, developed White House policy initiatives, and advised the president.^[4] Among his tasks as general counsel was drafting the legislation that created the new Department of Homeland Security.^[5] Kenneth Feinberg, special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund called Perry "a first-rate lawyer," "quiet but determined, "^[4] and the "unsung hero" of the team of lawyers faced with settling the issue of which family members of September 11 victims would be eligible to receive compensation. Perry suggested that in cases where family wills did not stipulate beneficiaries (80%), the matter should be determined under the inheritance laws of the state in which a victim held residence.^[6]

Latham & Watkins:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

After multiple years of federal service, Perry returned to Latham & Watkins as a partner, where he rejoined their litigation and regulatory groups, serving as counsel on behalf of Fortune 500 clients such as Monsanto, defense contractor Lockheed Martin and others. The Washington Post reported that at Latham & Watkins, Perry was "a leader of its homeland security practice."

Perry's law practice has largely involved federal court litigation. He has served as lead trial counsel in important nationally prominent matters. Although he has handled numerous commercial matters, his most high-profile successes have involved federal constitutional issues, government regulation and federal contracts. For example, Perry recently successfully handled the Roundup Ready alfalfa case in federal district court in San Francisco. Other recent high-profile matters include: Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, 130 S. Ct. 2743 (2010); Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, Inc., 129 S. Ct. 1498 (2009); Ctr. for Food Safety v. Vilsack, 636 F.3d 1166 (9th Cir. 2011); Sottera, Inc. v. FDA, 627 F.3d 891 (D.C. Cir. 2010); Ctr. for Food Safety v. Vilsack, No. 10-4038, 2011 US Dist. LEXIS 31688 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 17, 2011); Wyeth Pharmaceuticals v. FDA, No. 1:09-cv-01810-FJS, slip op. (D.D.C. Sept. 24, 2009); and Sottera, Inc. v. FDA, 680 F. Supp. 2d 62 (D.D.C. 2010). See http://www.lw.com/Attorneys.aspx?page=AttorneyBio&attno=02162

General counsel for Department of Homeland Security:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

In April 2005, President George Bush nominated Perry to be the general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security.^[5] Perry was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate later that year. In his position as the general counsel for the DHS, Perry supervised over 1,500 lawyers, and advised Secretary Michael Chertoff and the White House on the Department's legal and policy issues. Issues of influence for Perry included, but were not limited to, "the transit of people and cargo, comprehensive immigration reform, and critical infrastructure such as chemical plants."^[4] A Cornell Law alumni newsletter reports, "While at DHS, he was joined by Gus P. Coldebella '94, current acting general counsel, and Julie L. Myers '94, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

Return to private sector:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Perry was also "closely involved" in the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States(CFIUS) National Security Agreement process.^[3]

Awards and honors:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Perry has been recognized as a leading litigator in the Euromoney Institutional Investor Benchmark: Litigation 2008 guide.^[1]

Personal life[

Perry is married to Elizabeth Cheney, an alumna of Colorado College. They have five children. Elizabeth Cheney is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. She is the former deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs at the State Department, and was a member of the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group, and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming's at-large congressional district.

Quotes:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

"The term 'revolving door' implies people going in and out of government in order to obtain monetary gain. The reason people go into government is to serve their country. It's not appropriate to describe that as a 'revolving door.'"^[6]

References:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

:{:{Jump up to:}:^

^{a b c "Biography} ^of ^Philip ^Perry ^at ^the ^Latham ^&^ ^Watkins, ^LLP, ^website". ^{Retrieved 2008-10-27.}

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^{a b Cooper,} ^Michael ^{(2000-10-03). "The} ^2000 ^Campaign: ^The ^Running ^Mates; ^Seasoned ^Debater ^of ^Varied ^Styles ^vs. ^Upbeat ^but ^Less ^Experienced ^{Opponent". The} ^New ^York ^Times. ^{Retrieved 2008-10-27.}

:{:{Jump up to:}:^

^{a b "General} ^Counsel ^of ^the ^Department ^of ^Homeland ^Security ^Rejoins ^{Latham" (Press} ^release). ^Latham ^&^ ^Watkins, ^LLP. ^2007-02-14. ^Archived ^from the ^original on ^2011-07-14. ^{Retrieved 2010-03-14.}

:{:{Jump up to:}:^

^{a b c "Combining} ^Public ^Service ^and ^Private ^{Practice". Spotlight.} ^Cornell ^Law ^School. ^2007-09-10. ^{Retrieved 2008-10-27.}

:{:{Jump up to:}:^

^a b Mintz, ^John ^{(2005-04-01). "President} ^Nominates ^Cheney's ^{Son-in-Law". The} ^Washington ^Post. ^{Retrieved 2008-10-27.}

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^a b Blum, ^Vanessa ^{(2008-09-05). "Covering} ^All ^the ^{Bases". Legal} ^Times. ^{Retrieved 2008-10-27.}

External links:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Appearances on C-SPAN

Categories:

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/

House of Representatives: R-WY (2017- )

Alliance for a Stronger America: Cofounder

Keep America Safe: Cofounder

State Department: Former Assistant, Near Eastern Affairs

Elizabeth Cheney (R-WY), daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is an outspoken and controversial proponent of hawkish U.S. foreign policies. In 2016, Cheney was elected to the House of Representatives, winning the congressional seat in Wyoming formerly held by her father. She is cofounder of the Alliance for a Stronger America, a 501(c)4 organization she launched with her father in 2014, as well as Keep America Safe, a now-defunct neoconservative advocacy group.

During the George W. Bush presidency, Cheney worked in the State Department overseeing Middle East policy. After the election of Barack Obama, she became a standard-bearer for the militaristic agenda pursued by her father during the Bush years, serving as a go-to pundit on conservative media outlets like Fox News and launching an ill-fated Senate bid in Wyoming. She once called Obama “the most radical man to ever Occupy the Oval Office” [[1]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn1) and described his opposition to torture as “despicable.”[[2]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn2)

Cheney has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, including his apparent intention to reinstate the use of torture. “It’s been clear, certainly since we stopped the enhanced interrogation program, we’re not even in a position anymore, frankly, where we’re very often capturing people,” Cheney said in early 2017. “We have nothing to do with people when we do capture them.”

Although she has opposed some of Trump’s comments on Russia and Vladimir Putin, Cheney nevertheless backed the president’s controversial decision to fire FBI director James Comey. In a tweet about the firing, which she later deleted after reports emerged alleging that Trump had pressured Comey to end the investigation into disgraced National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Cheney childishly wrote “Best. Termination. Letter. Ever.”

Alliance for a Stronger America

In June 2014, Cheney announced that she was starting a new 501(c)4 group with her father called the Alliance for a Stronger America.

In a YouTube video promoting the new organization, the duo issued starkly partisan broadsides against the Obama administration’s foreign policy. “The policies of the last six years have left America diminished and weakened,” opined Dick. “We know America’s security depends upon our ability to reverse President Obama’s policies,” added Elizabeth. “We know that America is the exceptional nation, and that there is no substitute for American leadership around the world.”[[3]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn3)

“If all this sounds familiar to you, you are right,” wrote national security blogger Heather Hurlburt for the Daily Beast. “Seems like just yesterday—2009, in fact—that Liz Cheney, along with Bill Kristol and Debra Burlingame (whose brother died on 9/11), founded Keep America Safe.” Arguing that the group seemed like a vehicle for the Cheneys’ self-promotion rather than a serious issue advocacy outfit, Hubert wrote that their “appeals to fear and canny marketing give them a continuing place in American life, as long as they can raise money for a media booker and a website.”[[4]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn4)

As part of the group’s rollout, the two Cheneys penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journalassailing the Obama administration’s decision to withdraw troops from Iraq. Claiming that Obama “seems determined to leave office ensuring he has taken America down a notch,” the Cheneys argued that Obama had “abandoned Iraq, and we are watching American defeat snatched the jaws of victory.” In a line repeatedly cited by critics who accused them of ignoring the Bush administration’s own record on the country, the Cheneys added, “Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many.”[[5]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn5)

The renewed visibility for the Cheneys came amid a quieter effort to mend ties between the family and the Republican establishment, which had been frayed by Liz Cheney’s ill-fated primary challenge to Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi. According to Politico, the father-daughter duo turned up at several exclusive, off-the-record Republican events in an effort “to repair their relationship with a Republican establishment of which they’d been card-carrying members for decades” but which Liz had campaigned against in Wyoming. “People close to the Cheneys say they hope to move beyond last year’s fray and pivot back to an issue that defines their brand: national security,” Politicoreported. “But several of Liz Cheney’s friends also say she could well make another bid for elected office.”[[6]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn6)

2013 Senate Bid

In mid-2013, Cheney announced that she was challenging Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi in the upcoming Republican primary. Many observers expressed surprise at her decision to take on the relatively popular Enzi—and also to contest a seat in Wyoming rather than Virginia, where she has spent most of her life.[[7]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn7) Indeed, one poll released after Cheney’s announcement suggested that nearly half of Wyoming Republicans thought that she should run in Virginia instead.[[8]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn8)

The backlash from establishment party figures was considerable, with GOP senators closing ranks around Enzi and former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) warning that Cheney’s bid could bring about “the destruction of the Republican Party of Wyoming.”[[9]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn9) “I love Liz Cheney,” added conservative pundit Ann Coulter. “But why should we be having a rancorous primary against a good Republican senator other than for Liz Cheney’s ego? … We are allowing shysters to take advantage of the Republican Party.”[[10]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn10)

The Atlantic‘s Conor Friedersdorf observed that while “there are probably some Republican operatives who are upset that [Cheney] didn’t ‘wait her turn,'” other critics of Cheney were hardly lacking for fodder. Characterizing Cheney’s alarmist, right-wing attacks on Obama’s security policies as “especially inane,” Friedersdorf concluded that “This is someone who has a history of mistaken foreign-policy judgments, an inability to make sophisticated critiques of ideological opponents, and a bad habit of behaving dishonorably toward rivals. She should never be trusted to hold elected office in America.”[[11]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn11)

Cheney’s bid stumbled in its early months amid a rash of negative press regarding misinformation in her Wyoming fishing license application, arguments with the Wyoming press, and a public spat with her sister Mary, who is gay, over same-sex marriage.[[12]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn12) “In just 2 1/2 months as a declared candidate,” the Los Angeles Times reported in September 2013, “Cheney has generated more controversy and national headlines … than Enzi has managed in a 40-year career.”[[13]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn13)

Foreign policy also proved challenging terrain during the campaign, with Cheney expressing opposition to President Obama’s request for authorization to strike Syria despite Cheney’s long history of statements advocating just that. “In her role as hard-ass conservative pundit, the pro-Gitmo, pro-waterboarding Liz has long been second to none in advocating liberal use of the U.S. military,” wrote Michelle Cottle for the Daily Beast in September 2013. “But as a Senate candidate, especially one looking to woo [isolationist] Tea Party types, her situation is somewhat more ticklish. … Faced with such a conundrum, what’s a hawkish yet ambitious Republican gal to do? Blame it all on Obama, of course. So it is that Cheney explained that she opposed the president’s Syria request because he has already cocked up the situation irretrievably with his ‘amateurish approach to national security and foreign policy.’ … Dishonest? Perhaps. Politically expedient? Most definitely.”[[14]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn14)

Cheney ultimately dropped her bid in January 2014. “Ms. Cheney never was able to focus much on her opponent, spending much of her five-month candidacy fending off distractions to her campaign,” reported the New York Times after Cheney’s announcement. “A campaign meant to carry on the Cheney banner of pugnacious conservatism, especially on national security, offered a vivid reminder about the limitations of transferring political power.”[[15]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn15) One November 2013 poll had shown Cheney more than 50 points behind Enzi.[[16]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn16)

Keep America Safe

Cheney cofounded the neoconservative advocacy group Keep America Safe in late 2009 with the Weekly Standard’s William Kristol and support from right-wing donors like Melvin Sembler.

The group quickly became a lightning rod for controversy. In February 2010, it released athat questioned the loyalty of Justice Department lawyers who had defended terrorism suspects. Defending the video, Michael Goldfarb, an adviser to the group, claimed that the lawyers targeted in the ad “have propagandized on behalf of our enemies, engaging in a worldwide smear campaign against the CIA, the U.S. military and the United States itself while we are at war.”[[17]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn17)

The video was roundly criticized by conservatives and liberals. A group of conservative lawyers issued a letter stating that “such attacks” were undermining the judicial system. “Whether one believes in trial by military commission or in federal court, detainees will have access to counsel. … To delegitimize the role detainee counsel play is to demand adjudications and policymaking stripped of a full record. Whatever systems America develops to handle difficult detention questions will rely, at least some of the time, on an aggressive defense bar; those who take up that function do a service to the system.”[[18]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn18)

Keep America Safe subsequently launched campaigns aimed at “saving” the controversial U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,[[19]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn19) and opposing the construction of an Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan.[[20]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn20) By 2013, the group appeared to be inactive or defunct.

Bush Administration

From 2005 to early 2006, Cheney served as principal deputy assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, making her No. 2 in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. The post, which she left in spring 2006 to have her fifth child, reportedly entailed actively working to develop regime-change strategies for Middle Eastern countries, mainly Syria and Iran. According to unnamed colleagues interviewed by the newspaper The Australian, within the department she was called the “freedom agenda coordinator” or “democracy tsar.”[[21]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn21)

The job was Elizabeth Cheney’s second in the Bush State Department. From 2002 to 2003, she served as a deputy assistant secretary, a post she left to aid her father’s vice presidential reelection campaign. Her earlier tenure, although a matter of concern among critics who regarded her as a spy within Colin Powell’s State Department, ended with little fanfare. According to Todd Purdum of the New York Times, “After two years of working on projects to promote women’s rights and democracy in the Arab world, she won praise from skepticalforeign service officers, the European press, Arab leaders, and prominent Democrats.”[[22]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn22)

Not everyone, however, was pleased with Cheney’s work. Larry Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s assistant at State, told the American Prospect that she clashed with ambassadors while visiting the Middle East: “Liz Cheney comes out to this country, and she tells the ambassador—and she doesn’t outrank him—she tells the ambassador, ‘You’re not going in the meeting with me.’ And he says, ‘I’m sorry, I’m going in the meeting with you. You’re not going into a meeting with the head of State without me.’ And she says, ‘Nope—would you like a telephone call?'”[[23]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn23)

Cheney’s return to State in 2005 fuelled speculation that she was pushing plans to intervene in Iran and Syria. Journalist Robert Dreyfuss wrote, “During the past 15 months, Elizabeth Cheney has met with and bolstered a gaggle of Syrian exiles, often in tandem with John Hannah and David Wurmser, top officials in the Office of the Vice President; has pressed hard for money to accelerate the administration’s ever-more overt campaign for forced regime change in both Damascus and Tehran; and has overseen an increasingly discredited push for American-inspired democratic reform from Morocco to Iran.”[[24]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn24)

Observers also connected Cheney with two obscure offices in the State Department that were the focus of concerns in early 2006 about the Bush administration’s plans for the Middle East. On April 22, 2006, the Financial Times reported on the creation of an “Iran-Syria Operations Group” (ISOG) that purportedly reported to Cheney. Adam Ereli, a State Department spokesman, denied the group existed. However, other unnamed sources, including U.S. government officials and a European diplomat, assured the Financial Times that the group had in fact been established. These sources said that the group served as an interagency effort that “is supposed to coordinate with the Pentagon and other departments.”[[25]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn25)

The New York Times reported that the State Department requested $85 million for a Liz Cheney-run program “for scholarships, exchange programs, radio and television broadcasts, and other activities aimed at shaking up Iran’s political system.” But observers were sceptical about the program’s impact. Said Vali Nasr, an Iranian-born professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.: “It sounds good to fund civil society groups, but not when you don’t know who the groups are. No real group wants a direct affiliation with the United States. It will just get them into trouble with the government.”[[26]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn26)

Cheney’s “unpublicized” meetings with Syrian dissidents in early 2005 also spurred speculation that the administration was repeating the strategy it followed with former Iraqi exile leader Ahmed Chalabi, who helped feed misleading information to the United States about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs. The meetings were first reported in the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, which claimed to have received confirmation of them from the State Department. According to an Agence France Presse account, Cheney, Hannah, and several Pentagon and National Security Council officials met with the dissidents to “discuss ways of ‘weakening the Syrian regime.'”[[27]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn27)

Among those participating on the Syrian side was Farid Ghadry, a U.S.-based businessman who headed the Reform Party of Syria. According to Robert Dreyfuss, Ghadry is “a pro-Israeli Syrian who’s maintained ties to neoconservatives in Washington and who is close to [David] Wurmser and his wife, Meyrav Wurmser, the director of Middle East affairs for the Hudson Institute.”[[28]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn28)

Mourhaf Jouejati, a Syria specialist at George Washington University, called Ghadry a “mini-me of Ahmed Chalabi.” Jouejati also claimed that Liz Cheney, Hannah, and the Wurmsers “are the backbone for Farid Ghadry’s movement. The question is, are they just seeking leverage with Syria, or is it a serious option? If it is the latter, I would be scared, because that means that they don’t know what they are doing.”[[29]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn29)

War on Terror

After leaving office in 2006, Cheney remained a vocal proponent of Bush foreign policies.

In January 2007, she wrote a sharply worded op-ed in the Post titled “Retreat Isn’t an Option.” The piece, which came on the heels of President Bush’s controversial decision to boost troop levels in Iraq, implicitly attacked the U.S. public for weakness on the war on terror. “American troops will win if we show even one-tenth the courage here at home that they show every day on the battlefield,” wrote Cheney. “And by the way, you cannot wish failure on our soldiers’ mission and claim, at the same time, to be supporting the troops. It just doesn’t compute.”[[30]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn30)

The op-ed also revealed what one commentator called a “combination of overstatement and ancestor-worship”—in this case of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a favorite historical figure of neoconservative ideologues.[[31]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn31) “We will have to fight these terrorists to the death somewhere, sometime,” Cheney wrote. “We can’t negotiate with them or ‘solve’ their jihad. If we quit in Iraq now, we must get ready for a harder, longer, more deadly struggle later.” She then concluded: “America deserves better. It’s time for everyone—Republicans and Democrats—to stop trying to find ways for America to quit. Victory is the only option. We must have the fortitude and the courage to do what it takes. In the words of Winston Churchill, we must deserve victory. We must be in it to win.”[[32]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn32)

Cheney also sharply criticized efforts to diplomatically engage with U.S. rivals in the Middle East. In early 2007, shortly after Dick Cheney publicly accused House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) of “bad behavior” for meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Washington Post ran an op-ed in which Liz Cheney argued that “Talking to the Syrians emboldens and rewards them at the expense of America and our allies in the Middle East. It hasn’t and won’t change their behavior. They are an outlaw regime and should be isolated.”[[33]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn33)

Cheney and her father’s ideological similarities made headlines in January 2009 when a writer for Slate discovered Elizabeth’s 1988 senior thesis at the library of Colorado College. Titled the “Evolution of Presidential War Powers,” Cheney’s thesis, according to writer Zac Frank, argued that “constitutionally and historically, presidents have virtually unchecked powers in war.” Adds Frank, “Thirteen years before her father became vice president, she had symbolically authored the first legal memorandum of the Bush administration, laying out the same arguments that would eventually justify Guantanamo and extraordinary rendition, wiretapping of American citizens, and, broadly, the unitary theory of the executive that shaped the Bush presidency.”[[34]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth/#_edn34)

Cheney’s husband, Philip Perry, served as general counsel to the Department of Homeland Security during the Bush presidency. MIC lobbyist?

liz revisionist jihad ~ starr fedsoc rove book

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/opinion/14rich.html

wiki

Elizabeth Lynne Cheney Perry (born July 28, 1966),^[3] commonly called Liz Cheney, is an American attorney and political commentator. Cheney is the elder daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and Second Lady Lynne Cheney. She held several positions in the U.S. State Departmentduring the George W. Bush administration. She has been politically active on behalf of the Republican Party and is a co-founder of Keep America Safe. She was briefly a candidate for the United States Senate in Wyoming, challenging the three-term incumbent Mike Enzi, before dropping out of the race.

On July 16, 2013, Cheney announced that she would be running for the Senate in 2014 from the state of Wyoming as a Republican, challenging the incumbent Republican senator Mike Enzi.^[28] The National Republican Senatorial Committee says the group plans to back Enzi, as is policy.^[29] Cheney was expected to receive strong fundraising, but faced concerns about the fact she moved to Wyoming in fall 2012.^[30] In the video announcing her candidacy, she noted that the Cheney family first came to Wyoming in 1852.^[30] Her father served Wyoming in the House of Representatives from 1979 to 1989.^[30]

In her first campaign appearance in Cheyenne since announcing her challenge to Enzi, Cheney said, "We have to not be afraid of being called obstructionists. Obstructing President Obama's policies and his agenda isn't actually obstruction, it's patriotism."^[31] Cheney claims that Obama has "literally declared war" on the First and Second amendments to the United States Constitution as well as the interests of Wyoming ranchers and energy workers who face regulations from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.^[31]

In August 2013, conservative Newsmax magazine named Cheney among the "25 most influential women in the GOP".^[32]

Cheney's campaign was marred by criticisms from her past championing of hawkish foreign policy positions to a public spat with her sister Mary over her refusal to support same-sex marriage. Enzi's continuing popularity made it difficult for Cheney to make inroads with Wyoming Republican voters. On January 6, 2014, Cheney announced she had withdrawn from the race.^[33]

ByCATHERINE THOMPSONPublishedJUNE 18, 2014,

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz, the one-time Senate candidate and ex-State Department official, took to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday to blast President Barack Obama on Iraq.

The Cheneys set a bleak tone right off the bat: "Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many," they wrote. "Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is 'ending' the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—as though wishing made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into reality."

Cheney, a chief architect of the Iraq War, believes Obama had just one job regarding Iraq when he assumed office. Al-Qaeda had already been "largely defeated," he and his daughter wrote, thanks to the "heroic efforts" of U.S. armed forces during the Bush administration

lee f 3/15

If you read enough news and watch enough cable television about the threat of the Islamic State, the radical Sunni Muslim militia group better known simply as IS, you will inevitably encounter a parade of retired generals demanding an increased US military presence in the region. They will say that our government should deploy, as retired General Anthony Zinni demanded, up to 10,000 American boots on the ground to battle IS. Or as in retired General Jack Keane’s case, they will make more vague demands, such as for “offensive” air strikes and the deployment of more military advisers to the region.

But what you won’t learn from media coverage of IS is that many of these former Pentagon officials have skin in the game as paid directors and advisers to some of the largest military contractors in the world. Ramping up America’s military presence in Iraq and directly entering the war in Syria, along with greater military spending more broadly, is a debatable solution to a complex political and sectarian conflict. But those goals do unquestionably benefit one player in this saga: America’s defense industry.

Keane is a great example of this phenomenon. His think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which he oversees along with neoconservative partisans Liz Cheney and William Kristol, has provided the data on IS used for multiple stories by The New York Times, the BBC and other leading outlets.

Jack Keane

Keane has appeared on Fox News at least nine times over the last two months to promote the idea that the best way to stop IS is through military action—in particular, through air strikes deep into IS-held territory. In one of the only congressional hearings about IS over the summer, Keane was there to testify and call for more American military engagement. On Wednesday evening, Keane declared President Obama’s speech on defeating IS insufficient, arguing that a bolder strategy is necessary. “I truly believe we need to put special operation forces in there,” he told host Megyn Kelly.

Left unsaid during his media appearances (and left unmentioned on his congressional witness disclosure form) are Keane’s other gigs: as special adviser to Academi, the contractor formerly known as Blackwater; as a board member to tank and aircraft manufacturer General Dynamics; a “venture partner” to SCP Partners, an investment firm that partners with defense contractors, including XVionics, an “operations management decision support system” company used in Air Force drone training; and as president of his own consulting firm, GSI LLC.

To portray Keane as simply a think tank leader and a former military official, as the media have done, obscures a fairly lucrative career in the contracting world. For the General Dynamics role alone, Keane has been paid a six-figure salary in cash and stock options since he joined the firm in 2004; last year, General Dynamics paid him $258,006.

Keane did not immediately return a call requesting comment for this article.

Disclosure would also help the public weigh Keane’s policy advocacy. For instance, in his August 24 opinion column for The Wall Street Journal, in which he was bylined only as a retired general and the chairman of ISW, Keane wrote that “the time has come to confront the government of Qatar, which funds and arms IS and other Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas.” While media reports have linked fundraisers for IS with individuals operating in Qatar (though not the government), the same could be said about Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, where many of the major donors of IS reportedly reside. Why did Keane single out Qatar and ignore Saudi Arabia and Kuwait? Is it because his company, Academi, has been a major business partner to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar’s primary rival in the region?

Other examples abound.

Anthony Zinni

In a Washington Post story about Obama’s decision not to deploy troops to combat IS, retired Marine General James Mattis was quoted as a skeptic. “The American people will once again see us in a war that doesn’t seem to be making progress,” Mattis told the paper. Left unmentioned was Mattis’s new role as Keane’s colleague on the General Dynamics corporate board, a role that afforded Mattis $88,479 in cash and stock options in 2013.

Retired General Anthony Zinni, perhaps the loudest advocate of a large deployment of American soliders into the region to fight IS, is a board member to BAE Systems’ US subsidiary, and also works for several military-focused private equity firms.

CNN pundit Frances Townsend, a former Bush administration official, has recently appeared on television calling for more military engagement against IS. As the Public Accountability Initiative, a nonprofit that studies elite power structures, reported, Townsend “holds positions in two investment firms with defense company holdings, MacAndrews & Forbes and Monument Capital Group, and serves as an advisor to defense contractor Decision Sciences.”??

“Mainstream news outlets have a polite practice of identifying former generals and former congressmembers as simply ‘formers’—neglecting to inform the public of what these individuals are doing now, which is often quite pertinent information, like that they are corporate lobbyists or board members,” says Jeff Cohen, an associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College.

Media outlets might justify their omissions by reasoning that these pundits have merely advocated certain military strategies, not specific weapons systems, so disclosure of their financial stake in the policy need not be made. Yet the drumbeat for war has already spiraled into calls for increased military spending that lifts all boats—or non-operational jets for that matter.

When the Pentagon sent a recent $2 billion request for ramped-up operations in the Middle East, supposedly to confront the IS issue, budget details obtained by Bloomberg News revealed that officials asked for money for additional F-35 planes. The F-35 is not in operation and would not be used against IS. The plane is notoriously over budget and perpetually delayed—some experts call it the most expensive weapon system in human history—with a price tag now projected to be over $1 trillion. In July, an engine fire grounded the F-35 fleet and again delayed the planned debut of the plane. How it ended up in the Pentagon’s Middle East wish list is unclear.

“I think an inclination to use military action a lot is something the defense industry subscribes to because it helps to perpetuate an overall climate of permissiveness towards military spending,” says Ed Wasserman, dean of the UC Berkeley Graduate School for Journalism. Wasserman says that the media debate around IS has tilted towards more hawkish former military leaders, and that the public would be best served not only with better disclosure but also a more balanced set of opinions that would include how expanded air strikes could cause collateral civil casualties. ”The past fifty years has a lot of evidence of the ineffectiveness of air power when it comes to dealing with a more nimble guerrilla-type adversary, and I’m not hearing this conversation,” he notes.

The pro-war punditry of retired generals has been the subject of controversy in the past. In a much-cited 2008 exposé, The New York Times revealed a network of retired generals on the payroll of defense contractors who carefully echoed the Bush administration’s Iraq war demands through appearances on cable television. ??

The paper’s coverage of the run-up to a renewed conflict in the region today has been notably measured, including many voices skeptical of calls for a more muscular military response to IS. Nonetheless, the Times has relied on research from a contractor-funded advocacy organization as part of its IS coverage. Reports produced by Keane’s ISW have been used to support six different infographics used for Times stories since June. The Times has not mentioned Keane’s potential conflict of interest or that ISW may have a vested stake in its policy positions. The Public Accountability Initiative notes that ISW’s corporate sponsors represent “a who’s who of the defense industry and includes Raytheon, SAIC, Palantir, General Dynamics, CACI, Northrop Grumman, DynCorp, and L-3 Communication.” As the business network CNBC reported this week, Raytheon in particular has much to gain from escalation in Iraq, as the company produces many of the missiles and radar equipment used in airstrikes.

In addition to providing reports and quotes for the media, ISW leaders have demanded a greater reaction to IS from the Obama administration. In The Weekly Standard this week, ISW president Kim Kagan wrote that President Obama’s call for a limited engagement against IS “has no chance of success.” ??

ISW’s willingness to push the envelope has gotten the organization into hot water before. In 2013, ISW suffered an embarrassing spectacle when one of its analysts, Elizabeth O’Bagy, was found to have inflated her academic credentials, touting a PhD from a Georgetown program that she had never entered.

The Nation.

But memories are short, and the media outlets now relying heavily on ISW research have done little to scrutinize the think tank’s policy goals. Over the last two years, ISW, including O’Bagy, were forcefully leading the push to equip Syrian rebels with advanced anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry to defeat Bashar al-Assad.

For Keane, providing arms to Syrian rebels, even anti-American groups, was a worthwhile gamble. In an interview with Fox Business Network in May of last year, Keane acknowledged that arming Syrian rebels might mean “weapons can fall into radical Islamists’ hands.” He continued, “It is true the radical Islamists have gained in power and influence mainly because we haven’t been involved and that is a fact, but it’s still true we have vetted some of these moderate rebel groups with the CIA, and I’m convinced we can—it’s still acceptable to take that risk, and let’s get on with changing momentum in the war.” ??That acceptable risk Keane outlined has come to fruition. Recent reports now indicate that US-made weapons sent from American allies in the region to Syrian rebels have fallen into the hands of IS.

Keane, and ISW, is undeterred. The group just put out a call for 25,000 ground troops in Iraq and Syria.

http://www.thenation.com/article/181601/whos-paying-pro-war-pundits

TRANS no links:

lizcheney1217

oops 2x see Liz

Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter Elizabeth (Liz) Cheney has announced she will run for U.S. Senate in Wyoming. This could mean a brutal primary with the current sitting Senator, Mike Enzi. Enzi is no climate warrior, even though the state faces adoubling or tripling of wildfires if we don’t slash carbon pollution soon.

So how would Cheney address “the global threat of our time,” climate change? Well, her social media strategy on climate echoes Sarah Palin’s — take a picture of snow and make fun of it.

This spring, she implied that such a photo was evidence that global warming was not happening, despite the fact that the first half of 2013 was the seventh-hottest on record, according to NOAA.

She also went on Sean Hannity’s show in June to respond to President Obama’s climate plan, saying that “the science is just simply bogus, you know, we know that temperatures have been stable for the last 15 years.”

Cheney is parroting talking points from others that claim global warming stopped 15 years ago. What the science actually says is that the planet does indeed continue to warm, especially when you take into account the fact that the Earth is mostly water, and this is where around 90 percent of recent warming has been going — causing the oceans to warm dramatically.

More relevant on a policy front, she also tweeted that the President’s climate action plan is “using phony science to kill real jobs.” She elaborated that action to rein in carbon pollution was “a war on coal, a war on jobs, a war on American families.”

She accuses the President of the United States of waging a “war on American families” because he plans to cut the dirty carbon pollution that harms public health and locks the children of American families into an extreme climate future. In particular, Wyoming faces serious threats from wildfires, extreme heat, and drought.

So a Senator Cheney would oppose any action to cut carbon pollution because she does not see climate change as a serious threat — how fiercely would she oppose carbon regulations and investments in renewable energy? She tweeted that “patriotism” was “doing everything possible to resist/block” President Obama’s “radical” agenda.

Her positions echo those her father used to such disastrous effect when he was Vice President. Dick Cheney was the main influence in the early Bush White House that stopped Bush’s campaign pledges to regulate carbon emissions from utilities cold. This had a serious impact on America’s climate and energy future, and seriously threatens the national security of the United States to this day. His office blocked testimony on the health threats of global warming, he made sure the EPA removed sections on climate change from multiple reports in 2002 and 2003, and a Cheney appointeestovepiped disreputable climate change studies denying global warming. Liz Cheney, of course, thinks her dad was the “best VP ever.”

Tags: Climate Change Dick Cheney Liz Cheney Senate Wyoming

THU JUL 18, 2013 AT 10:11 AM PDT

Liz Cheney's neoconservative Keep America Safe group tries to wipe its existence from the web

Hayes Brown points out that the website of Keep America Safe, a lightweight effort to keep alive the legacy of neoconservative Project for a New American Century, has been recently shuttered, along with the organization's Twitter account and Facebook page. The organization was primarily a project of Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol set up in 2009. Cheney announced she will run in the 2014 Wyoming Republican primary against incumbent Mike Enzi. That hasn't made the Wyoming GOP establishment all that happy. But the handwriting was on the wall when Cheney bought a $1.9 million residence in Jackson Hole last year:

The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine places the last version of the Keep America Safe website as June 30, 2013, several weeks prior to Cheney’s announcement, but at a time when buzz was surrounding the chance she’d enter the primary field. Its Twitter account—@KeepAmericaSafe—likewise appears to have had its last tweet around the same time, as the last manual retweet of the account was June 26. The group’s Facebook page has also gone missing, but ThinkProgress is currently unable to tell when that page went dark. Even their Ning, a little used social media connection site, has been taken down.

But the group's YouTube site is still operating if you're eager to see the flavor of what the group is, or was, all about. One of the group's leaders, Debra Burlingame, told Dave Weigel that “we succeeded in accomplishing what we wanted to accomplish.” Other than some generic ultra-hawkish sputtering, it's hard to see what those accomplishments were unless it was to give Cheney another platform from which to hiss the same message dear old dad laid out of us.

At the time Cheney and Kristol launched this project nearly four years ago, I wrote:

Aided by Debra Burlingame, the sister of the pilot of Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and that old neoconservative standby William Kristol, Keep America Safe will devote itself to persuading us that using waterboarding, building missile umbrellas, keeping detainees at Guantánamo Bay and following an overtly aggressive foreign policy are good things.

Dad Cheney must be proud. And mom, too, she of the ahistorical approach to U.S. history. Not that the Cheneys invented American exceptionalism—that deep-seated and self-righteously justified operating perspective that the United States makes the global rules, enforces them but need not follow them when it decides its interests are at stake. Those interests being, most prominently, the bottom-line of corporadoes. That exceptionalist philosophy long preceded the Cheneys' appearance on the world stage.

Why the site would get scrubbed at this juncture is a bit hard to understand. Is young Cheney going to cut herself free of her dad's philosophy that had her just short of calling President Obama a traitor: “I think in fact what President Obama is doing is something that America’s enemies—the Taliban and Al Qaeda—have been unable to do, which is to decimate the fighting capability of this nation.”

Some stuff just can't be scrubbed. But given that the conservative Enzi's not a tea party fire-breather, perhaps Cheney's consultants are urging her to adopt a more moderate stance, at least temporarily. All for the prize: a Senate seat representing fewer citizens than any other state in the nation.

Read more about Cheney's bid below the fold.

Weigel reports that the Senate battle in Wyoming may be a proxy for a fight between conservative/neo-conservative hawks and the Rand Paul factions of the party:

Like Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton, a freshman who’s been nudged to run for the U.S. Senate by Kristol and others, Cheney’s seen by neoconservatives as a possible star. “She’s so good at articulating her views on policy,” says Debra Burlingame, the sister of a pilot whose plane was hijacked on 9/11 and a co-founder of Keep America Safe with the now-candidate. “I think she’ll help shore up support for what she believes and bring people back into the Republican Party, because we’re hungering for leadership. We can’t retreat from the world.” And would she stave off the intellectual challenge from Paul? “I don’t think that will be a serious factor. How many Rand Paul types are out there?”

Quite a few, actually. Wyoming wasn’t one of Ron Paul’s strongest states in the Republican primaries, but Paul did pull one-fifth of the vote and six delegates out of the March 2012 caucus. The Pauls personify a kind of libertarian “America first” foreign policy, but it thrives in the mountain west even when they’re not around. Rand Paul’s filibuster against the theoretical drone-killing of Americans at cafes was a hit with Republicans everywhere. As Reason’s Mike Riggs first noticed, one of the Republicans who praised Paul the loudest was Sen. Mike Enzi.

One can only hope the Enzi-Cheney battle devolves into the slime and that Enzi, with three terms under his belt, doesn't decide the contest isn't worth it age 70, which he will turn this coming February. It would certainly be more fun to cheer this fight if Wyoming had a strong Democratic candidate for that Senate slot. It doesn't. The executive director of the Wyoming Democratic Party notes that even if the Republican Party fractured over Enzi-Cheney, a Democratic win would be a "long shot." The last time a Democrat represented Wyoming in the Senate was when Gale W. McGee finished his term in January 1977.

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO METEOR BLADES ON THU JUL 18, 2013 AT 10:11 AM PDT.

ALSO REPUBLISHED BY DAILY KOS.

The GOP is abuzz about Liz Cheney's decision to mount a 2014 primary challenge against incumbent Republican Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming. In an item titled "Old Boy Net United Against Liz Cheney," Jonathan Tobin describes the daughter of old boy Dick Cheney as "widely acknowledged to be among the party's brightest stars," a dubious characterization. He goes on:

Why are so many leading Republicans lining up against Cheney? They are saying that they are opposing her bid because they don't like divisive Republican primaries that weaken the party and the eventual winner against the Democrats. But this is bunk. Wyoming is so deep red it's almost impossible to imagine the scenario in which a GOP primary, no matter how nasty, would lead to a Democratic win. Rather, what they really seem to be mad about is a breach of manners. If Enzi were to disappear from the Senate, few in Washington would even notice, let alone miss him, while Cheney would be a strong asset for a party that needs talented members able to stand up to President Obama and the Democrats as well as strengthening the party's appeal to women. But many in the establishment are so offended by her not waiting her turn until Enzi left on his own steam that they are prepared to stand by him.

Even more interestingly, Senator Rand Paul, who is usually to be found among those least likely to join the go-along-to-get-along crowd, is also backing Enzi, which may have more to do with his disagreement with Cheney's sensible views on foreign policy than any affection for the incumbent.

One aspect of that analysis is accurate: Liz Cheney's foreign-policy views, which would only be considered "sensible" at a magazine that still regards the Iraq War as a prudent undertaking, explain a great deal of the opposition to her. Most Americans understand that investing trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives in Iraq was a historic blunder. Tea Party types don't want to defend the conflict, but neither are they comfortable fully confronting the truth about Team Bush's folly or the toll it has taken on the GOP's reputation for competence in foreign policy.

Enzi supported the Iraq War too, and it may be irrational that his challenger is more tied, in the public mind, to the invasion. But being the offspring of a vice president has consequences. On one hand, you enjoy a base of donors and a degree of name recognition far beyond what individual merit would've brought. On the other hand, you're tied to the family brand. Republicans aren't thrilled about this primary challenge in part because of the nature of the Cheney brand: It is understandably associated in the minds of many Americans with misleading the nation into a disastrous war, an official program of illegal torture, a proclivity for Machiavellian power grabs, and a relationship with Halliburton that seemed like cronyism. There is, as well, the public's distaste for political dynasties, due to the reasonable suspicion that the younger members wouldn't be where they are without inside-the-Beltway nepotism, and the carpetbagger vibe of her brief residence in the state prior to declaring her run.

It is fair to judge Liz Cheney based on the family brand? Personally, I try not to hold the illegal, immoral acts of a father against his son or daughter unless he or she implicates herself in the objectionable positions.

Liz Cheney hasn't just embraced the objectionable actions and positions of neoconservative Republicans. She has also earned an independent reputation as someone who participates in weak, laughable, and even scurrilous attacks on ideological opponents that can only cast doubt on her judgment and moral character. The weak, laughable attacks are often aimed at Obama, of whom I am often critical. But even people who hold Obama in low esteem can't help but feel embarrassed on behalf of commentators who discredit themselves by making absurd claims like, "He's unwilling to go after the terrorists that are threatening the nation." To deny Obama's willingness to go after terrorists is to be deeply ignorant, ideologically blinkered, or a liar. None of those qualities is desirable in an aspiring U.S. senator.

On another occasion, Cheney said of Obama, "He's working to preemptively disarm America while rogue states like North Korea and Iran build nuclear weapons capabilities and stockpiles." Under Obama, the U.S. spends orders of magnitude more on defense than any other country; it maintains a nuclear stockpile large enough to obliterate whole continents if not the earth itself; and it has invested billions in a fleet of armed drones that increases our weapons capabilities. Obama's policy is, in other words, keeping us armed to the teeth. I understand that convention holds that it's unfair to begrudge pundits when they go on Fox News and utter inane talking points so far beyond exaggeration that they're just lies, but this is especially inane.

Cheney's low regard for civil liberties bothers me most. Others on the right are most bothered by her work for Keep America Safe. As the New York Timesreported in a 2010 article about its efforts:

A conservative advocacy organization in Washington, Keep America Safe, kicked up a storm last week when it released a video that questioned the loyalty of Justice Department lawyers who worked in the past on behalf of detained terrorism suspects.

But beyond the expected liberal outrage, the tactics of the group, which is run by Liz Cheney, the daughter of the former vice president, have also split the tightly knit world of conservative legal scholars. Many conservatives, including members of the Federalist Society, the quarter-century-old policy group devoted to conservative and libertarian legal ideals, have vehemently criticized Ms. Cheney's video, and say it violates the American legal principle that even unpopular defendants deserve a lawyer.

"There's something truly bizarre about this," said Richard A. Epstein, a University of Chicago law professor and a revered figure among many members of the society. "Liz Cheney is a former student of mine -- I don't know what moves her on this thing," he said.

On Sunday, Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, issued a joint letter criticizing the "shameful series of attacks" on government lawyers, which it said were "unjust to the individuals in question and destructive of any attempt to build lasting mechanisms for counterterrorism adjudications." The letter was signed by a Who's Who of former Republican administration officials and conservative legal figures, including Kenneth W. Starr, the former special prosecutor, and Charles D. Stimson, who resigned from the second Bush administration after suggesting that businesses might think twice before hiring law firms that had represented detainees. Other Bush administration figures who signed include Peter D. Keisler, a former acting attorney general, and Larry D. Thompson, a former deputy attorney general.

The letter cited "the American tradition of zealous representation of unpopular clients," including the defense by John Adams of British soldiers charged in the Boston Massacre, and noted that some detainee advocates, who worked pro bono, have made arguments that swayed the Supreme Court. Ms. Cheney's video referred to the lawyers as the "Al Qaeda Seven," and accused the Justice Department of concealing their names, which were later revealed by Fox News.

Tobin might have been less puzzled by the opposition to Cheney's candidacy if he'd recalled how many people lost respect for her enough to publicly declare her approach to advocacy "shameful."

In Tobin's defense, there are probably some Republican operatives who are upset that she didn't "wait her turn." Politicos are often overly invested in dues paying, obsess over perceived slights, fetishize tribal loyalty, and exhibit entitlement on a scale that used to be considered sinful. The Republicans who oppose Cheney for those reasons should get over themselves. They should oppose her based on the dearth of what she has to offer, and the many discrediting statements, actions, and policy stances that call her values, character, and judgment into question. This is someone who has a history of mistaken foreign-policy judgments, an inability to make sophisticated critiques of ideological opponents, and a bad habit of behaving dishonorably toward rivals. She should never be trusted to hold elected office in America.

liz cheney bak

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The cult of worship': Here's why Liz Cheney is possibly a more insidious force than Donald Trump

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Liz Cheney and right-wing outrage machine lie about Rashida Tlaib — corporate media and Trump do the rest

Enzi won't run again, makes opening for Cheney

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