Who’s the most venomous and pernicious person in American life today? That person who, without an iota of irony or self-dramatizing exaggeration (Rush Limbaugh, in that sense, is rather a kitten), really believes the nation has descended into a malignant state and can only be saved by baneful and constant censure?
Nominations?
Here’s mine:
Liz Cheney.
Sour, wounded, aggrieved, graceless, paranoid (I’d guess), self-pitying, doubtless, extreme, aggressive, and defensive, she might literally kill you, and your kind, if she could. Yesterday, she went on a Sunday morning show (the Fox show, of course)
to bilefully suggest (or demand) that the president not accept his peace prize, but, instead, send the mother of a dead solider to do so.
Just who is Liz Cheney?
Even in politics, which has become an industry where the best advantage is a family relationship, the Cheney family is an amazingly adept organization. Dick Cheney’s wife and two daughters have each built their careers and public profiles off of their husband and father’s influence and political networks. For his wife, there’s been array of government agency, corporate board, and media jobs. For older daughter, Mary, her father has faced down right-wing opprobrium
over her lesbian relationship so as to get her a fair share of the political spoils (suggesting it’s not about ideology, it’s about the Cheneys). For Liz and her husband, Phillip Perry, there’s been an evolving portfolio of high level government jobs. These are careers so rife with favoritism, connections, influence, and special handling that the Bushes, who have at least been elected to office, seem like the meritocracy.
Now the Cheneys are striking out on their own,
forming a consulting firm whose purpose is the promotion of the Cheneys themselves. Their unified front is partly a defensive move: If anybody tries to mess with Dick, they’ll face the venomous wrath of the entire, deeply networked, incredibly aggressive and vengeful family. It is partly for vindication—Liz Cheney has become a huge defender of waterboarding and all other enhanced interrogation techniques—and is partly opportunistic.
Dick Cheney was supposed to be the competent old pro who would not compete with the ambitions of the Bush family by trying to run for president himself. He was too unpleasant to run.
But unpleasantness, a Cheney family trait, has turned out to be the Republican opportunity—the party’s raison d'être.
The most implacable, negative, snarling, insolent, nasty figure goes to the head of the party.
That’s the business the Cheneys have opened: Contempt, Inc.
Liz Cheney is already discussing the offices she might run for.
That’s her platform: bold and undaunted scorn.
More of Newser founder Michael Wolff's articles and commentary can be found at VanityFair.com, where he writes a regular column. He can be emailed at michael@newser.com. You can also follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NewserColumns.
