Back in January, when I learned that Liz Cheney would again try to use Wyoming (she’s from Virginia) to weasel her way into Congress, I wasn’t very charitable about it.
With the looming retirement of Freedom Caucus wingnut Cynthia Lummis, the reliably Republican at-large Wyoming congressional seat is wide open, and there will be about eight candidates vying for it–among them, Liz Cheney, the daughter of the worst vice-president in the history of our country. Ms. Cheney attempted to oust Republican Sen. Mike Enzi in a 2014 primary, but, as I predicted, she fell on her face in spectacular and humiliating fashion and dropped out in 2013.
Part of the problem for Liz back then was that the people of Wyoming are conservative but they’re not allergic to compromise. It was also a problem that she’s not really from Wyoming despite her father having served in the seat she now seeks.
Ordinarily, I’d give her zero chance of winning this seat, but in a seven or eight person plurality-wins election, simply having the most name recognition might be enough.
The nation needs a new Cheney in Congress like it needs a hole in the head. So, break out the garlic, the wooden stakes, and whatever else can ward off or defend against the undead.
Alas, the vampire could not be diverted from her destiny. She won the primary last night and will undoubtedly be sworn in next January to the same seat her pulseless father used to cover up the Iran-Contra affair and launch himself into Über-wealth as the Iran-sanction skirting chairman of Halliburton. He then used his position as vice-president to push our nation into a war that predictably empowered Iran and then sent his daughter Liz out to tell us how Iran is the most evil, dangerous country ever and we should never make any Munich deals with them to prevent them from pursuing a nuclear weapon.
I apologize if I am vituperative but the Cheneys are one subject that I am not dispassionate about. In a sane country, this clan would not reentering Congress to reestablish their influence.
So wait, the Republican fringe candidate with the name recognition won the primary since it was so crowded? That sounds familiar.
That really is a sad thing to happen.
The GOP really is really running itself off a cliff isn’t?
Trump has ruined everything. They can’t go back to where they were, and they can’t really go forward either.
Going Bible thumper ruined everything for them.
In the same country, that entire family would be publicly executed and their bodies displayed on pikes.
Fucking auto-correct. “In a sane country…”
As much as Dick Cheney deserves to rot, and as crapulous as Liz Cheney might be, murdering the entire family would not be the act of a ‘sane country’, no.
Was going to say that in a sane world Liz’ daddy would be behind bars, but you kinda got there first.
So, other than the fact that her name is Cheney, exactly how is Liz worse than the batshitcrazy ass she will be replacing?
My list of legacy politicians that shouldn’t be allowed into office is much longer.
What fresh Hell is this? The return of Mini-Me Cheney.
Great. Just great.
Papa Dick would be
[with apologies to Otis]
do you know anything about Ryan, the dem candidate vs. her?
And the strong Democratic candidate is….?
And Trump goes down the tubes in Wyoming when what event happens?
Simple proposition: Find the 175,000 Wyoming registered voters who hate her with a passion and get them to the polls to vote ABC-Anybody But Cheney.
yes; this is something the Sanders ppl in WY can do in fact. don’t know anything about her opponent,
I would be astonished if the Sanders people in Wyoming could do such a thing.
I don’t know anything about the candidate [nor does Oagua], but looking for it I ran across the WY progressive website. WY is absolutely Sanders territory. guess it’s time for a conversation w DFA
I’m a firm believer in 50 state campaigning. But, I also believe in reality. Wyoming is Sanders Country in the sense 55% of Wyoming Democrats preferred Bernie. Not in the sense that Bernie would accepted as a viable candidate for statewide office.
Roughly 20% of Wyoming voters identify as Democrat. Democrats are outnumbered by at least 2 to 1 in ALL 23 Wyoming counties.
My apologies, but without significant and effective ground organizing and education, no one is going to win a statewide office in WY as a democrat in a while. Not Sanders, Not HRC, Not LBJ, Not Jesus Christ.
Maybe Jesus Christ, but he’d have to get a few million undocumented angels registered.
(through 2011), Freudenthal, was a D. So it can happen, even in WY.
You’re right that it’s certainly an uphill climb, plus Freudenthal was about the sort of Dem (i.e., arguably DINO) you’d expect he’d hafta be to get elected there.
Don’t know if I’m reading the data right but I rhink there are 42,000 registered dems in Wyoming compared to 143,000 registered republicans. No way a dem will be elected to an at large seat with those numbers.
I looked at the primary ballots cast numbers, dem votes cast vs Cheney votes cast – dems are pretty outnumbered. but, it is typical Sanders territory and in a state where everyone knows everyone else and she really insulted major players on her last try, it would be worth a try.
One problem — a colleague once tried to explain WY politics to me. The bottom line, the WY electorate is really dumb.
elitist, snide comment, completely unacceptable, based on nothing more than sitting in your parents basement wisecracking.
Would you say that to the face of the person who made that assessment and was born, raised, lived, and worked in that region (lots of hours driving and bumping up against more political impediments than in the remainder of his territory)? As frustrating as it was for him, he had to work with those people but didn’t need to have any illusions/delusions them.
he can say it, you can’t
what I mean is some west coaster repeating the comment is different from that person saying it; if I met him I certainly would listen and probably understand why he said it
That’s ridiculous. Everybody repeats stuff they’re told by someone they think has knowledge in an area. Note that in my original comment I disclosed that the assessment wasn’t mine, but I didn’t disclose details about the speaker and I considered his comments credible. FWIW — this was a business discussion and not a political discussion which this colleague and I never had. He isn’t active in electoral politics and the only other thing I know is that he’s not a Republican or doesn’t fundamentalist religious beliefs.
Do you seriously think I’d repeat an opinion by some random person not in a position to have some knowledge/experience of a situation? Like some rightwing doofus repeating crap that Rush, Trump, etc. pulls out of you-know-where?
Wyoming primary:
Cheney: 34,086
GOP total: 84,665
Ryan Greene: 10,580
Dem Total: 18,148
Wouldn’t hold my breath that WY voters will deliver the upset of the century. Homegrown working guy vs. DC carpetbagger. We know how that story turns out.
Do we?
Do we know why it is that Trump has a huge margin in Wyoming and other red states are narrowing?
Do we know how many Republicans and Democrats are currently registered to vote and how many are not and where and why?
Do we know how mobilized the people at Wind River are this year with Trump in the race?
Those primary numbers show low turnout for both Republicans and Democrats.
In 2006, Dave Freudenthal won re-election to governor with 135,516 votes (a 69%-30% result). Dave Freudenthal is a Democrat who supported Barack Obama.
PVI is not destiny. If Democrats are not going to do anything to win in Wyoming, I wouldn’t hold my breath either. But with Trump and Cheney heading the ticket, why couldn’t the upset of the century happen?
I’ve not heard why the GOP has such a lock on Wymoing now. Gale McGee was a Senator from there for 16 years. Two terms after his appointment.
I hope this Ryan Greene comes off in retail campaigning as a down-to-earth nice guy who has set up his campaign to listen to voters and represent their interests. Because Cheney will act as Queen Elizabeth I of Wyoming.
Greene won’t have much money and Cheney will have boatload. His bio presents him as a solid working class guy — but he’s young, only 33, and has no political experience. Cheney gets legacy creds and that usually wins in local, state, House and Senate races.
What money means is that Greene can work his butt off with retail politics meeting people all over the state. And Cheney can win without ever setting foot in the state just through media ads. Even in one of the least populous states in the country.
Just because Greene is young and has not outside-the-state backing.
Greene apparently has worked in the fossil fuels industry and is pro-gun, and even those bona fides in Wyoming make no difference.
What is apparent is that there are a hell of a lot of voters sitting on the sideline in Wyoming who apparently haven’t seen any reason to vote.
And there are a lot of swing voters who don’t necessarily advertise that fact.
This isn’t optimism AG, this is an autopsy of why we will continue to get gridlocked government even when the Presidential candidate might win in a landslide. And even when that business-as-usual candidate will win in a landslide only because the opposition is self-destructing. That is a pessimistic lefty scenario unless you are of the phoenix-out-of-the-ashes school which I dismiss as just burning more things to the ground.
But do we have any evidence that Wyoming voters don’t actually approve of Cheney’s actions?
I worked with a man who just voluntarily transferred to Wyoming. He actually boasted of getting away with calling a manager the N-word to his face (no witnesses). He also thinks that Mexicans should be machine gunned at the border and existing illegal aliens should be rounded up into concentration camps. He never mentioned ovens, but I’ll bet he was thinking of them. I’ll also bet he thinks Dick Cheney is a Liberal. I know he thinks Bush was a wuss for not nuking Saddam.
Why the hostility? I at least stipulated that for WY (energy biz), Greene isn’t a bad Democratic nominee. However, it’s naive not to acknowledge that the big name carries clout in both primary and general elections. How much or enough to win depends upon the time, timing, election cycle, and location. The Cheney name retains clout in WY. Not enough for her to primary a Senator that was broadly acceptable, but WY’s only house seat when it’s open, most definitely. If these two were the nominees for an open Senate seat, the odds for Greene would plummet.
Could Hillary have decamped to AR in 1999 and won a gubernatorial or senate race? Questionable because the Clinton name had lost its clout in AR by that time. A House seat, sure.
If from way out west I were opining on what was required for a Democrat to win a specific statewide race when the nominees were given in SC and you countered with your information about the SC political landscape that you’re familiar with, I would defer to your greater awareness wrt such an election. WY isn’t like NC where an incumbent Democratic (DINO) Senator only loses by 1.5% to a rightwing crazy. WY hasn’t had a Democratic US House Rep since 1979 and it last elected a Democratic Senator in 1970 (and who lost his 1976 re-election bid).
The ever-optimistic leftiness world, Tarheel.
Anosognosia,” in a word.
Not knowing what you don’t know.
Anosognosia.
It’s what’s for dinner. Left, right and middle.
And then people are once again… seemingly for the millionth time…so surprised when it once again doesn’t work out quite the way they thought it might.
Yawn.
AG
thank you. I’m too sick coastal elitism for a constructive comment.
One more GOP Caucusmember to bring the bloodthirsty crazy on the House floor and grandstand in a couple of committees. Liz won’t be growing the Party, I’ll tell you that.
This cheered me up today:
Rock-headed buffoon gets held to account. I love the uncomfortable silences.
Explain to me how Dick Cheney was a worse VP than Aaron Burr?
Arron Burr actually killed the guy he shot at. Cheney only got him in the face.
And demanded an apology.
Aaron Burr then tried to start his own country.
Anyone know where Dick Cheney is?
nice
I’m assuming Trump has given up on 2016; he’s just tormenting the GOP now and looking for some way to monetise his notoriety. 13M primary voters translates into a losing constituency for POTUS but is potentially a huge cable market. Could Trump be Sarah Palin writ large?
Ailes seems a free agent. A point perhaps overlooked regarding Trump’s new hire is that his Bannon & Co paydays were mostly in media/entertainment mergers and acquisitions.
Evil never sleeps.