Mama Cheney’s not happy. And when Mama Cheney’s not happy …
by digby
While Former Vice President Dick Cheney has stayed mostly mum on his daughter’s bid for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), his wife allegedly had some harsh words Saturday for a former senator who voiced his support for Enzi.
Lynne Cheney told former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) to “shut your mouth” about Liz Cheney’s primary opponent at a fundraiser in Cody, Wyo., according to Simpson’s daughter-in-law.
“So I’m at the Patrons Ball tonight and Lynne Cheney, the mother of Liz, comes up to my father-in-law and tells him to… I believe the direct quote was ‘Shut your mouth’ regarding his support of Mike Enzi,” Deb Oakley Simpson wrote on her Facebook page, as quoted by the Casper Star-Tribune.
Lynne’s got a nasty temper. I couldn’t help but recall this CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer from 2006:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you agree a dunk in water is a no- brainer if it can save lives?
VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Well, it’s a no-brainer to me, but I — for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We don’t torture. That’s not what we’re involved in.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: It made it sound — and there’s been interpretation to this effect — that he was, in effect, confirming that the United States used this waterboarding, this technique that has been rejected by the international community that simulates a prisoner being drowned, if you will, and he was, in effect, supposedly, confirming that the United States has been using that.
L. CHENEY: No, Wolf — that is a mighty house you’re building on top of that mole hill there, a mighty mountain. This is complete distortion; he didn’t say anything of the kind.
BLITZER: Because of the dunking of — you know, using the water and the dunking.
L. CHENEY: Well, you know, I understand your point. It’s kind of the point of a lot of people right now, to try to distort the administration’s position, and if you really want to talk about that, I watched the program on CNN last night, which I thought — it’s your 2006 voter program, which I thought was a terrible distortion of both the president and the vice president’s position on many issues.
It seemed almost straight out of Democratic talking points using phrasing like “domestic surveillance” when it’s not domestic surveillance that anyone has talked about or ever done. It’s surveillance of terrorists. It’s people who have al Qaeda connections calling into the United States. So I think we’re in the season of distortion, and this is just one more.
Nobody does it better. She’s as good as anybody in the GOP.
Here she goes right in Blitzer’s face:
L. CHENEY: Well, all right, Wolf. I’m here to talk about my book, but if you want to talk about distortion …
BLITZER: We’ll talk about your book.
L. CHENEY: Well, right, but what is CNN doing running terrorist tape of terrorists shooting Americans? I mean, I thought Duncan Hunter ask you a very good question and you didn’t answer it. Do you want us to win?
The answer, of course, is we want the United States to win. We are Americans. There’s no doubt about that. Do you think we want terrorists to win?
L. CHENEY: Then why are you running terrorist propaganda?
It doesn’t get any more aggressive than that. And then she went into an even angrier spin:
BLITZER:Let’s talk about another issue in the news, then we’ll get to the book. This — the Democrats are now complaining bitterly in this Virginia race, George Allen using novels — novels — that Jim Webb, his Democratic challenger, has written in which there are sexual references, and they’re making a big deal out of this. I want you to listen to what Jim Webb said today in responding to this very sharp attack from George Allen.
L. CHENEY: Now, do you promise, Wolf, that we’re going to talk about my book?
BLITZER: I do promise.
L. CHENEY: Because this seems to me a mighty long trip around the merry-go-round.
BLITZER: I want you to — this was in the news today and your name has come up, so that’s why we’re talking about it, but listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES WEBB (D), VIRGINIA SENATE CANDIDATE: There’s nothing that’s been in any of my novels that, in my view, hasn’t been either illuminated the surroundings or defining a character or moving a plot. I’m a serious writer. I mean, we can go and read Lynne Cheney’s lesbian love scenes, you know, if you want to get graphic on stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
L. CHENEY: Jim Webb is full of baloney. I have never written anything sexually explicit. His novels are full of sexual, explicit references to incest, sexually explicit references — well, you know, I just don’t want my grandchildren to turn on the television set. This morning, Imus was reading from the novels, and it’s triple-X rated.
BLITZER: Here’s what the Democratic Party put out today, the Democratic Congressional — Senatorial Campaign Committee: “Lynne Cheney’s book featured brothels and attempted rape. In 1981, Vice President Dick Cheney’s wife, Lynne, wrote a book called “Sisters,” which featured a lesbian love affair, brothels and attempted rapes.”
L. CHENEY: No.
BLITZER: “In 1988, Lynn Cheney wrote about a Republican vice president who dies of a heart attack while having sex with his mistress.” Is that true?
L. CHENEY: Nothing explicit. And actually, that was full of lies. It’s not — it’s just — it’s absolutely not a…
BLITZER: But you did write a book entitled “Sisters”?
L. CHENEY: I did write a book entitled “Sisters.”
BLITZER: And it did have lesbian characters.
L. CHENEY: This description — no, not necessarily. This description is a lie. I’ll stand on that.
BLITZER: There’s nothing in there about rapes and brothels?
L. CHENEY: Well, Wolf, could we talk about a children’s book for a minute?
BLITZER: We can talk about the children’s book. I just wanted to…
L. CHENEY: I think my segment is, like, 15 minutes long and we’ve had about 10 minutes of…
BLITZER: I just wanted to — I just wanted to clarify what’s in the news today, given — this is…
L. CHENEY: Sex, lies and distortion. That’s what it is.
BLITZER: This is an opportunity for you to explain on these sensitive issues.
L. CHENEY: Wolf, I have nothing to explain. Jim Webb has a lot to explain.
BLITZER: Well, he says he’s only — as a serious writer, novelist, a fiction writer, he was doing basically what you were doing.
L. CHENEY: Jim Webb is full of baloney
As I said, she’s a lovely gal. Simpson is lucky he didn’t wind up on the floor clutching his crotch. Blitzer had the look on his face of someone who had suffered a low blow in that exchange, that’s for sure.
Update:
In a statement, Lynne Cheney denied the brush-up, saying, “We love Al and Ann. We have been friends for over 40 years. As to the story posted on Facebook, I have to admit I am at a bit of a loss. That simply did not happen.”
Ryan Grim spoke to Simpson, who is hardly known as a wilting flower himself, and it looks like the lovely Lynne lied:
Lynne Cheney “just unloaded” on Alan Simpson at a Wyoming event Saturday evening, the former Republican senator told The Huffington Post. Cheney was angry at Simpson for backing incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi in the Republican Party primary race against her daughter Liz Cheney.
“I was surprised at her intensity,” Simpson said. “It was eyes-flashing and pretty intense.”
Simpson said he explained to Cheney that he has a history with Enzi that goes back decades — and that, in fact, Simpson is the reason Enzi is in public life at all.
“I am unqualified in my support of Mike Enzi, but it’s not about Liz Cheney for God’s sake,” he told The Huffington Post on Tuesday. “It’s about the fact that I’m the guy who talked Mike Enzi into running for public office. I met him when he was the president of the Wyoming Jaycees. I explained that to Lynne but she didn’t seem to listen.”
It’s not pretty when a party starts to cannibalize itself. But it’s fun to watch.