The outcome of the primary for Wyoming’s sole House seat was widely expected. Recent polls had Cheney trailing her top rival, Harriet Hageman, by double-digit margins.
Late yesterday,
After thanking her
team and her family members, Cheney began her ‘concession’ speech.
She claimed to have
received a note from a Gold Star father more than a year ago.
Cheney went on to say that:
“Two years ago, I won
this primary with 73 percent of the votes. I could easily have done the same
again, the path was clear, but it would have required that I go along with
President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election. That is a path I would not
take.”
“It would have
required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel a democratic system and
attack the foundations of our Republic. That was a path I could not and would
not take,”
“No House seat, no
office in this land is more important than the principles that we are all sworn
to protect. And I well understood the potential political consequences of
abiding by my duty.”
The self-righteous Cheney was blaming Republican voters of Wyoming
implying they were immoral, ignorant, and gullible hence they believe ‘the big
lie’ and voted for the wrong candidate. In her mind she is the moral martyr.
Cheney said she had
called her primary opponent Hageman to concede.
Cheney declared that
“This primary election is over. But now the real work begins.”
Cheney said that that
work is rooted in the fight against “the conspiracy and the lies” about the
2020 elections. She called out without naming Republican candidates for
governor, secretary of state, and other offices, who she claimed support the
‘big lie’
Perhaps Cheney forgot that she had spread
debunked conspiracy theories spread by Democrat
propagandists in the NYT that the
Russian military spy unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban terrorists to
kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Cheney claimed to stand for the constitution and the rule of law.
If that was really the case, she would have insisted that Trump have a defense
team for the January 6th trials. Instead she willingly participates in a Stalinist show
trial whose mission is not to find facts but to persecute a political opponent.
Cheney said she “will
do whatever it takes” to deny Trump a return to the Oval Office.
While she slammed Trump for inciting violence, her own word where
she pledged to “will do whatever it takes” to deny Trump a return to the Oval
Office could be interpreted in myriad ways including a call to violence.
A good concession speech is one where losing candidates
congratulate the winner, accept defeat, respect the voter and their choice,
thank their team and family, and wish everyone well. Humility and graciousness
is the key to it all. It always helps if the speech ends with a call to unity.
Cheney’s speech was
sanctimonious, pompous, and passive-aggressive.
What has Cheney's record
been?
Cheney's first foray
into active politics was in 2013, when she surprised everyone
by announcing her plan to challenge sitting US Senator Mike Enzi in a
primary contest in Wyoming.
Enzi was a Wyoming resident and was popular in the state. He was
also a friend of Dick Cheney. But that didn't matter, Liz whose sole claim to
fame was her surname, thought she could unseat Enzi.
Her Facebook post announcing her run was geotagged from her actual home in McLean, Virginia and not Wyoming while the jeans she wore to pretend to
disguise herself as a Wyoming resident stained her hands blue because they were
brand new.
The move was incongruous
and reeked of entitlement. In the end, she had to withdraw in disgrace on
health grounds.
She was elected to
the House in 2016 after Rep. Cynthia Lummis resigned and won two successive
terms after that.
During her tenure in
the House, she seldom visited her home state which is the primary reason for
her loss. She was also an advocate of her father hawkish polices that promote
foreign military conflicts.
Republicans in
Wyoming recall President Trump’s tenure of economic prosperity and peace
with fondness.
When they saw Cheney’s
advocacy of gratuitous military interventions and her voting to impeach Trump they were not
pleased. They were incensed to see her dedicate her tenure to targeting Trump while
not focusing on a single issue that is pertinent to their well-being such
as inflation and high energy prices they voted her out.
Cheney dedicated a significant portion of her speech to talking
about the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. She appeared to compare herself to the
first Republican President reminding her audience that Lincoln “was
defeated in elections for the Senate and House before he won the most important
election of all.”
The last person to compare herself to Lincoln was Hillary Clinton
during her second Presidential debate with Trump. We know how well that ended.
Her Lincoln remarks led some to speculate Cheney was
contemplating 2024 primary run. If she tries, she will most certainly be
defeated.
What about a
third-party run, like Ross Perot?
Conventional thinking
is that Cheney could end up stealing votes from the Republican Presidential
Candidate and hence enable the Democrats to win. Hence she will be funded
by the Washington Democrat Establishment and she will dedicate her campaign to
attacking the Republican candidate only.
But there is another
way to think about this.
Perhaps there were
some Bush-Cheney GOP voters who so strongly disapprove of the likes of Trump
that they vote for the Democrat for the lack of choice. If Cheney runs independently
they have a candidate who is not of the MAGA variety but is also not a
Democrat. She could hence end up stealing votes from Democrats.
No matter how one
looks at Liz Cheney, she is a spent force and will have no impact on the
political landscape.
Also appears on American Thinker
Comments
Post a Comment