MSNBC's Hayes Slams Liz Cheney as 'Odious,' 'Crappy Friend,' 'Knockoff' of 'Villain' Dick Cheney
On Wednesday's All In show, MSNBC host Chris Hayes lambasted GOP Senate candidate Liz Cheney as he hyperbolically used over the top words and phrases such as "odious," "crappy friend," "villain," and "toxic," as he devoted a segment to trashing the daughter of former Vice President Cheney for choosing to run for the U.S. Senate for Wyoming.
At one point, Hayes called her a "knockoff" of her father, to whom he applied the "villain" label, seeing her as the product of "affirmative action for over privileged white people." Referring to the former Vice President, Hayes sneered:
Now, whatever you think about her father, you got to allow Dick Cheney this. He came about his infamy honestly. He is a real up by the bootstraps kind of villain. But Liz Cheney is the knockoff version. She's a legacy case, a toxic example of what affirmative action for over privileged white people looks like.
Earlier in the segment, after a clip of incumbent Republican Senator Mike Enzi asserting he thought she was a friend, Hayes continued:
Now, there are a few things we should all keep in mind about this new development in Wyoming politics, besides the fact that Liz Cheney is apparently a really crappy friend. Ms. Cheney is truly one of the most odious presences in American politics today.
He later complained:
Liz Cheney does not just argue her point of view. She boils up a stew of the most repugnant factless fearmongering propaganda to rile up the darkest forces of the far political fringe.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Wednesday, July 17, All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC:
CHRIS HAYES, BEFORE COMMERCIAL BREAK: Okay, here's a fun fact: The state fish of Wyoming is called the cut-throat trout? What does that have to do with the way Liz Cheney has entered into the Senate race there for 2014? I don't know, but it sure seems apropos, doesn't it? Don't go away.
(...)
[LIZ CHENEY]
HAYES: That, of course, was Liz Cheney, people pleaser, announcing by way of YouTube yesterday she will bow to the great pressure from the good people of Wyoming and run for the Senate next year. But here's the thing: There's not an open U.S. Senate seat in Wyoming next year. The seat she's currently running for is occupied by someone from her own party. Republican Mike Enzi, who's serving his third term and who, it just so happens, announced his own intentions to run for another term just yesterday.
[SENATOR MIKE ENZI (R-WY)]
HAYES: Now, there are a few things we should all keep in mind about this new development in Wyoming politics, besides the fact that Liz Cheney is apparently a really crappy friend. Ms. Cheney is truly one of the most odious presences in American politics today.
Liz Cheney, for example, is responsible for the shameless far right pressure group that cast Justice Department lawyers who were called upon to represent Guantanamo prisoners as al-Qaeda sympathizers, the same group that helped lead the charge against the Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan, cleverly if completely inaccurately, nicknamed by the far right as the Ground Zero mosque.
Just a few months ago, she all but accused the President of being an anti-American agent, writing, quote, "The President has so effectively diminished American strength abroad, there's no longer question whether this was his intent." Last year, she went even further, suggesting that by supporting defense cuts, the President was basically working for the Taliban.
LIZ CHENEY: What President Obama is doing is something that America's enemies, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, you know, have been unable to do, which is to decimate the fighting capability of this nation.
HAYES: And if you asked Liz Cheney what with all this pro al-Qaeda, Taliban sympathizing, you can't really blame the fringe crazies for thinking President Obama must be a secret Kenyan Muslim terrorist plant. Here's how she explained the all American phenomenon of birthers back in 2009.
CHENEY: People are uncomfortable with having, for the first time ever I think, a President who seems so reluctant to defend the nation overseas.
HAYES: Liz Cheney does not just argue her point of view. She boils up a stew of the most repugnant factless fearmongering propaganda to rile up the darkest forces of the far political fringe. As an added bonus, she's in the "global warming is fake because of snow caucus" as well.
Now, whatever you think about her father, you got to allow Dick Cheney this. He came about his infamy honestly. He is a real up by the bootstraps kind of villain. But Liz Cheney is the knockoff version. She's a legacy case, a toxic example of what affirmative action for over privileged white people looks like. She bought a house in Wyoming last year, and as far as anyone could tell, the justification for her campaign is that she would very much like to be a U.S. senator, thank you very much.
And, presumably, her dad will be helping her raise money with his fabulously wealthy and powerful friends. And to be perfectly honest, there is no real reason to care about this race on its face, a race that will probably be decided by fewer people than simultaneously did the "Gangnam Style" horse dance with Psy in Seoul last fall.
But here's what's fascinating about it anyway. Liz Cheney's candidacy represents a return to the 200 proof neoconism into the Republican Party. She'll be spending the next year playing to a conservative base that has gone increasingly anti-interventionist, a la Rand Paul, in terms of foreign policy. So what's about to unfold in Wyoming is a captivating test case as to whether the Republican base can beat back the neocon aristocracy.
Joining me now is Matt Welch, editor-in-chief of the libertarian magazine Reason, co-author of the book, The Declaration Of Independence: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America. Well, Liz Cheney is what's wrong with America, and I'm hoping that the Wyoming libertarian streak is going to beat her back. Because, I genuinely think that one of the most fascinating elements of center by politics is that the base is no, no, no, nowhere near as interventionist as the oligarchy that runs foreign policy. And here we have got a perfect test case.
(...)
So here's the fascinating thing. So the way that Liz, the question about Liz Cheney is, how do you win a race where you represent the establishment? How do you get the grassroots that hates the establishment on your side? I think the answer is, "I'm going to out Obama hate anyone." Right? That's the card she is going to play. Here she is making her case for how she's growing to run this race.
-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center
