I’m not an expert in Wyoming politics but I did live there for a while, and I still have relatives who live there and know something about the political environment. So, this Times beat sweetener/puff piece notwithstanding, I’m pretty sure that Liz Cheney is not going to be the next Senator from the Equality State.
First, the piece indicates that Cheney “lives” in Jackson Hole (in reality, she moved there last year from McLean, VA in an transparent attempt to quickly establish residency). Jackson Hole is not real Wyoming–it’s where the rich fucks have summer houses and ski condos. Second, Mike Enzi, her erstwhile opponent, is a gross incompetent do-nothing back bencher, but he’s been making it rain Federal checks in Wyoming long before Liz began running her mouth on Fox News. Like Alan Simpson, Enzi grew up in Wyoming, and is a long-time politician (he was a mayor and state senator before winning the Senate race in 1996) with real roots and connections throughout the state. Third, as usual, Alan Simpson is full of shit:
It would bring about “the destruction of the Republican Party of Wyoming if she decides to run and he runs, too,” Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from the state, said in an interview last week. “It’s a disaster — a divisive, ugly situation — and all it does is open the door for the Democrats for 20 years.”
Wyoming has had a couple of Democratic governors in the past 20 years, but the last Democrat who actually won a Senate election served in the 50’s, and the last time any Democrat won a federal office in Wyoming was in the 70’s. There just isn’t much there for Democrats in Wyoming. If Cheney did win a Republican primary, maybe someone like ex-Governor Dave Freudenthal could sneak in for one term, but that state is just too conservative to support a Democrat in the Senate.
Wyoming is also a state that loves its Republican incumbents, no matter how terrible they are. Enzi might not be a world-beater, but he’s Abe Fucking Lincoln compared to the awful Barbara Cubin, who made a racist remark on the House floor, threatened to slap a wheelchair-bound opponent who had MS, and who was absent from voting a good deal of the time while she cared for her ill husband. Cubin’s retirement from the House was voluntary, just as Enzi’s retirement from the Senate will be in 2020 or 2026 or whenever he feels like it. By then, Liz Cheney will have stopped making her kids barrel race so she can post their pictures to Facebook, Dick won’t be around to get her tickets to the Cattleman’s Dinner in Cody, and she won’t be able to face another forkful of Jell-O salad at the Lander American Legion Auxiliary luncheon and gun raffle.
c u n d gulag
I wish we could ask the entire disgraceful Cheney Crime Family to leave the US.
But unfortunately, the place where they’d feel most at home, is long gone – Nazi Germany.
They are all Fascists!!!
And a good morning, and a loud “FUCK YOU!,” to Mr. Godwin, and his fucking law!!!!
kansi
Loathe the heartless, lying father, but Liz is the one I would most like to pummel. Her dad times ten.
All the horrid qualities of Dick and Lynn in one despicable package.
NickT
It’s an unusual thought, but if Dick Daughter gets into the race I might have to make an almost approving reference to Enzi.
bill d
She’s already pissed off every democrat, now she is going after the republicans.
What a miserable gene pool.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kansi: Dick Cheney’s a vile human being, but I know absolutely nothing about his parents (well, no more than that they both must be in some way manifestations of Satan, as are his in-laws).
Not being able to run against Obama is gonna cut Dick Jr’s stump speech in half.
MattF
There’s nothing good to say about the Cheneys. Do you think that ‘war criminal’ is worse than ‘aspiring war criminal’? One for the philosophers.
RevDave
this is a pretty big climb for little nasty Liz, even with her dad’s help. Wyoming folks don’t take real kindly to outsiders and clearly Liz is a beltway species – it is real hard to cover beltway spots back “home”.
NickT
@RevDave:
At least it’ll stop the evil little brute from standing outside schools screaming ‘Abortion slut!” at any girl who dares to show her ankles.
Mustang Bobby
If there’s a Cheney that should run for office, it should be Liz’s sister Mary. That would at least make for an interesting race in terms of discussing social issues.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Other than a full blown sense of entitlement and her last name Cheney isn’t bringing much to Wyoming. She’s never held elective office. She is a co-founder, with dynamite political strategist Bill Kristol, of Keep America Safe and she’s a Fox News common ‘tater. Whatever the attitudes of Wyoming voters, I doubt that they’ll be anxious to elect a self-aggrandizing carpetbagger.
Amir Khalid
Speaking of sick bastards …
Botsplainer
For whatever reason, every time I see that entitled thug brat running her mouth on TV, I have to retrain myself from punching a hole in my TV.
paul munson
Love the closing – nicely written.
Chyron HR
This is all Obama’s fault for not having Cheney’s entire family arrested and/or executed upon taking office.
Suffern ACE
@Amir Khalid: Another publicist- destroyed marriage.
Splitting Image
You might be selling Alan Simpson short here. If Cheney can be accurately described as a hate-filled, self-aggrandizing carpetbagger, then she bears some similarities to Sarah Palin, who certainly did damage the state Republican party in Alaska.
Granted, the comparison would be more accurate if Cheney were running for Governor, which I think would give her a lot more influence on the state party apparatus than being Senator will. As it is, if she does primary Enzi out of his job, the most she is likely to do is elect a Democrat to that office for a term or two. Also, from what little I know about Alaska, there are some demographic trends happening there that are moving it in a Democratic direction, which I don’t think are happening in Wyoming.
I agree that it will be hard for her to knock off a popular incumbent, but I don’t see that as a reason not to encourage her to run and root for injuries.
Biscuits
@Chyron HR:
I fantasize that the entire Cheney regime and their extended family is carted off to Bagdad and forced to live in that democracy without a security detail or blast walls. All of them, ma, pa, kids, even the dog.
White Trash Liberal
She doesn’t bring anything relevant to the table. Neoconservatism has been relegated to the background like an embarrassing weekend drunk binge. The GOP base put on tricorner hats and reinvented themselves as Teatards.
For another few years, she’s just a reminder of what the GOP is spending time and money pretending never existed.
Cathy
Dick Cheney *will* be around in 2020, after having his head transplanted onto a healthy young body.
g
Liz Cheney – just like Sarah Palin without the charisma.
Scott S.
@Splitting Image: I think I’d say the primary differences there are intelligence and intent. Palin is ambitious and hate-filled, but she’s dumb as a stump, and the evils she committed in office and as a pundit were mostly split between stupid shit she did stupidly and awful stuff she did to get back at her perceived enemies, which were mostly accomplished through brutal animal cunning. Liz Cheney, on the other hand, is ambitious and hate-filled, but fairly terrifyingly smart. She doesn’t blunder her way through to doing evil. She does it on purpose.
Gindy51
@Biscuits: Not the dog(s), I will adopt them and rehab them.
cmorenc
Does the fact that the DC beltway establishment (particularly the media) seems to value Liz Cheney as a family member (entitled to favorable coverage and face-time) work against her in Wyoming whenever she appears on national networks broadcast out there in Wyoming? I’m speaking here of the value of the sheer amount of free media exposure she’s had over the past several years, rather than her establishment connections themselves (after all, ex-Senator Alan Simpson was himself a clubby DC insider for years while in office).
Botsplainer
@Splitting Image:
I dunno, crap writer Allen Drury had a plotting and fairly open Communist agent as a Senator from Wyoming in his megaextravaganza crapwork, Advise and Consent.
TriassicSands
When I read the Simpson quote, I nearly puked. Why does anyone pay any attention to that demented old coot?
Violet
@Scott S.:
Agreed. Cheney may be able to sell herself to voters based on her connections and what she can do for the state because of them. Wouldn’t surprise me if the Cheney crime syndicate found some way to “discourage” Enzi from running. The Cheneys know a lot of bad people who can do bad things.
mistermix
@cmorenc: There are 576K people in Wyoming. National media doesn’t mean shit. That’s why Liz is running around the state to every Rotary meeting and church picnic.
Davis X. Machina
@TriassicSands: Simpson now is in the ‘famous for being famous’ cycle.
Biscuits
@Gindy51:
You are a better person than I. Ok, no pets! :)
Patricia Kayden
I can’t see how Lizzie would be any worse than the Repubs currently in the Senate. No better, no worse.
walt
Gale McGee was the last Democratic Senator elected from Wyoming. He served from 1959 to 1977. It’s sad to think that western states once sent real liberals to the Senate (Frank Church from Idaho, Fred Harris from Oklahoma, Mike Mansfield from Montana, etc.). What happened? The politicization of status. Every western state grew rich through the federal government, and once rich, decided they were really Republican.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
I have to say that to a Bujold fan, it’s so very appropriate that she is “from”
Jackson’s WholeJackson Hole.nancydarling
@Biscuits:
You’ve gone too far.
Biscuits
@nancydarling:
Corrected up thread. I am sorry.
Soonergrunt
Mistermix–where did you live in Wyoming? My family lived in Douglas from 1976 to 1981.
We still have relatives who live in Green River.
mellowjohn
@TriassicSands: because they miss statler or waldorf (never knew which was which) from the old muppet show?
kc
@kansi:
Same here. She’s an awful person.
Citizen_X
@Patricia Kayden:
No. No Cheneys (except completely unrelated), and no Bushes, anywhere in government, ever again.
And if we have to accept no Clintons in government, either, to get there, I’m fine with that.
Mr Stagger Lee
I am more interested in the Walt Longmire vs. Branch Connally sheriffs race in Absaroka County.
PeakVT
If Legacy Liz for Mini-President isn’t enough to fill your need for outrage, this ought to do it.
lectric lady
I was born and raised in the Kemmerer suburb, Frontier. Ain’t goin’ back.
MaryRC
I was curious about your comment about Cheney posting her childrens’ pictures to her Facebook page so I took a look.
Wow, she sure pimps out those kids, doesn’t she?
A photo of the kids squinting shyly into the sun, a photo of Liz making her concerned face on Fox, more kids, more Fox, the kids at Disneyland, more Fox, the kids with Grandpa …
And the page was only created in March. By now I imagine those children whining “Awww, Mom!” in unison whenever she lines them up for another photo shoot.
trollhattan
@MaryRC:
You shouldn’t think of them as kids as much as really good future tissue matches.
gf120581
I’m not surprised in the least at this move by Liz. She’s doing this for one reason above all others; to make Daddy proud. Ever since her dad left office she’s been his biggest supporter and defender. She the “Daddy’s Girl” stereotype in a particularly noxious flavor, especially since she’s as vile and unhinged as he is.
Jay C
It may be a contrarian opinion, but I think that not only does Liz Cheney have a solid chance of primarying Mike Enzi out of the nom, but a better-than-even chance of getting elected next year. It will all, IMHO, depend on just a couple of important factors:
1. Whether or not Enzi has the state/local machines behind him, and how much said machines are going to be able to be “persuaded” – i.e. bought off – to change candidates in the hope of a better deal in some way.
2. Whether or not the Cheney Machine [still] has enough juice to swing enough money and influence (see #1 above) Liz’s way. I think definitely maybe…
The “carpetbagger” issue is not relevant, IMO, Hillary Clinton had as little – if not less – connection to New York in 2000, and still got elected Senator – handily. I can;t imagine Liz Cheney couldn’t do the same
Rusty
@Jay C: The “carpetbagger” issue is not relevant, IMO
Jay, I have to disagree and comparisons to NY state don’t apply. As Mistermix states, Wyoming has some unique elements to their politics that buck the general rules. As a former resident and someone whose family was connected to some of the Wyoming politicos, I think Mistermix has it about right. From my own knowledge, I’d say there’s sort of a pecking order in the Wyoming GOP establishment, that Liz is crashing through. So while you identified the key factor in #1, I don’t see how she has/will endear herself to that establishment.
I have to laugh about the Jackson Hole comment. So true. She should have moved to Rock Springs, and lived there for 365 days out of the year. Then she’d build up some real cred.
mai naem
The whole Cheney family needs to die a slow very painful death. I would prefer that they DIAF but not in the actual fire. They should die after the fire after they pick up some infections so that their pain is extended but they can’t do any more damage to this country.
MaryRC
@trollhattan: Grandpa’s little “donors”?