Dick Cheney

A Contrast In Two Republican Women: Day Of Reckoning Tuesday For Liz Cheney, Sarah Palin!

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Two Republican women politicians face the voters this coming Tuesday.

Congresswoman Liz Cheney, whose father is former Vice President Dick Cheney, faces what seems like a certain defeat for her statewide Congressional seat in Wyoming, as Harriet Hageman, endorsed by Donald Trump, is up to 30 points ahead in various polls.

This author and blogger does not agree with Liz Cheney on just about anything, except her courageous, principled stand against Donald Trump and his incitment of the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection, the most dangerous threat to American government institutions since the War of 1812.

She has worked as co-chair, with another Republican, Congressman Adam Kinzinger, on the January 6 House Committee, and has endured vicious attacks and repudiation by her Republican House colleagues.

She is a “Profile in Courage”, as is Kinzinger, and they are on the right side of history, against the great evil of MAGA, the right wing Fascist movement led by the most corrupt and dangerous President America has ever experienced!

It seems likely, assuming she loses her Congressional seat, that Liz Cheney will mount a Presidential campaign, if for nothing else, than to split Republican and conservative votes and insure that Donald Trump, or anyone who runs in his place for President as a Trump supporter, is defeated for the Presidency.

The survival of American democracy is at stake with Liz Cheney’s battle against evil!

On the other hand, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate in the Presidential Election of 2008, is coming out of the “woodwork”, and plaguing us again with her inane, dumb, clueless candidacy for the open House seat in her state, caused by the death of long term Congressman Don Young.

Sarah Palin is part of the extremist right wing, divisive deterioration of the Republican Party in the past quarter century, and as a supporter of Donald Trump, it is hoped she will be repudiated by the voters, as she has nothing positive to offer her state.

If she is elected to the House, she will be an annoying figure such as Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, so hopefully she can be rejected, and returned to private life!

Liz Cheney And Adam Kinzinger Are Heroes For Upholding The Constitution And Rule Of Law!

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As the January 6 House Committee has opened its public hearings, one thing is very clear!

Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois are heroes for upholding the Constitution and rule of law!

Sadly, there are only a handful of other Republicans who are upholding the Constitution and rule of law in the 2022 Republican party.

Cheney is in a battle for her House seat, after having been stripped of her third ranking position, as House Republican Conference Chair. Despite her father, Dick Cheney, having been earlier a Congressman for ten years, the Wyoming Republican Party has repudiated her, and she faces a hotly contested primary with a Donald Trump endorsed opponent.

Adam Kinzinger is not running for reelection, since his seat has been eliminated by the loss of an Illinois Congressional seat in the 2020 Census, but he has also been repudiated by the Republican Party in his state, and even by family members.

History will record them in a positive fashion, while the historical image of their opponents, including Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, and innumerable others, will be condemned for sure!

Republican Party, 168 Years Old Today, Undermined By Competing Factions, Some Of Them Extremist In Nature

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The Republican Party was born on this day in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854, 168 years ago.

The future of the party is in danger, due to these massive splits.

Among the members of these six groups below are the following:

Trumpism—including House members Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz; Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz; and Governors Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, and Kristi Noem.

Anti Trumpism—including House members Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Anthony Gonzalez; Senators Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse; and Governors Larry Hogan, Charlie Baker, and Phil Scott.

Christian Right—Mike Pence, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee

Libertarian conservatives—Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul; Congressman Thomas Massie

Neoconservatives—George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Bolton

Moderates—Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Charlie Baker, Larry Hogan, Phil Scott, Chris Sununu

The hope for the long range is that the Anti Trumpists and Moderates will prevail, as otherwise, the Republican Party is an authoritarian, Fascist oriented party, abandoning the principles of the party at its founding!

Vice Presidents Who Have Accepted Defeat Of Their Party In Electoral College Count

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One of the roles of the Vice President of the United States is to count and announce the Electoral College vote at the end of a Presidential term.

Every Vice President has done so, constitutionally, in modern times, even when the Vice President may have been the Presidential nominee for the next term in office.

So we have Richard Nixon in 1961, Hubert Humphrey in 1969, and Al Gore in 2001, who have played their proper role.

Also, Walter Mondale in 1981 and Dan Quayle in 1993 were on losing tickets as Vice Presidents, but played their proper role.

And Dick Cheney in 2009 and Joe Biden in 2017, both leaving office, did their duty!

Finally, after much hesitation and the intervention of Dan Quayle led Mike Pence in 2021 to do what he was required, constitutionally, to do in his role as Vice President!

Many groups and individuals, including those who are clearly conservative in nature, argue that the Electoral Count Act of 1887, enacted a decade after the disputed Presidential Election of 1876, and two close elections in 1880 and 1884, needs to be overhauled to prevent the crisis that occurred in 2021, only prevented by Mike Pence, at the last minute, following his duty, despite threats to hang him or murder him by mobs engaged in the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021!

Comparing Kamala Harris To Mike Pence, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle, Spiro Agnew!

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Kamala Harris has been Vice President for nearly a year, and has faced brutal criticism and attacks, and suggestions by some that she resign, because she has not been assertive in the role of Vice President.

Of course, these suggestions come from Fox News Channel anchors Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, who are actively involved in attempting a coverup of the events of January 6, 2021, even though they were stunned by the events of that day, and tried to reach Donald Trump to express their dismay.

It is insulting that conservative supporters of the January 6 Insurrection have the gall to attack Kamala Harris, when the major issue is that she is a woman, and of mixed African and Asian American heritage, as her father is from Jamaican origin and her mother of Asian Indian origin.

Who are the critics turning to as models?

Is it Mike Pence, who refused to speak up at all to Donald Trump for four years, but at least had the guts to uphold the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden on January 6, facing the threat of being hanged by rioters? That is his only redeeming quality.

Or is it Dick Cheney, who while qualified by experience, was a dangerous, out of control Vice President, under George W. Bush, who enriched himself by America’s engagement in two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through leadership of Haliburton, and endorsed the use of torture against war prisoners?

Or is it Dan Quayle, who made everyone nervous for four years about the health of George H. W. Bush, as Quayle demonstrated how dumb and clueless he was?

Or was it Spiro Agnew, who resigned from office as a felon, after nearly five years a heartbeat away from the Presidency under Richard Nixon?

The only truly reputable Republican Vice President in the past half century was George H. W. Bush under Ronald Reagan! Although it must be said that the abbreviated Vice Presidency of Nelson Rockefeller under Gerald Ford was also decent!

Meanwhile, Democrats could be proud of their Vice Presidents—Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter; Al Gore under Bill Clinton; and Joe BIden under Barack Obama!

Kamala Harris is in the tradition of decency and dignity of Mondale, Gore, and Biden, and will do a fine job over the next three years, with her excellent qualification as former San Francisco District Attorney, California Attorney General, and US Senator!

Two Profiles In Courage: Liz Cheney And Adam Kinzinger Voting To Censure Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar!

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This author and blogger is not a fan of conservatism, and definitely not a fan of former Vice President Dick Cheney, or his daughter, Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

He is also not a big fan of Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, whose conservative views are not his idea of leadership.

But both of them, Cheney and Kinzinger, have shown they have principle and are true profiles in courage, who someday will have an historian write a book on their willingness to stand up to extremist Fascist rhetoric and the danger of Donald Trump!

Both are on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 US Capitol Insurrection, and both voted to impeach Trump after that event.

And both now have condemned Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, just about the most extreme member of the Republican Party, who put a anime cartoon on Twitter which portrayed the assassination of New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a sword combat of Gosar with President Joe Biden.

This advocacy and portrayal of violence is not a laughing matter, and led to the censure of Gosar in the House of Representatives, with only Cheney and Kinzinger, of all Republicans, joining the Democratic majority to take such action, which has only occurred 23 previous times in the history of the lower chamber since 1789!

Gosar should be expelled from the House of Representatives, but that cannot happen unless there was a bipartisan vote of two thirds of the chamber, which will not happen.

But for Republicans to defend the advocacy of violence, and for Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to refuse to condemn Gosar’s action is an outrage that will cause much grief in the future, and particularly if the Republicans, due to gerrymandering, are able to regain control of the House of Representatives in the midterm Congressional Elections of 2022!

This whole situation reminds historians of the Congressional violence and advocacy of violence in the pre Civil War period, particularly in the decade of the 1850s!

Terrifying to think that Congress itself is becoming a battleground of extremism and violence, due to the extremism and danger of Donald Trump!

Wyoming And Liz Cheney: Very Important House Race For 2022!

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Who would think that the state of Wyoming, the smallest state in population (less than 600,000), and least densely populated state (although it is 10th largest in land area), would become the center of attention in the upcoming midterm Congressional elections?

There is only one statewide At Large House district, with the seat being held by Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Liz Cheney is reliably conservative in voting record on every imaginable issue, and no Democrat is likely to be able to take that seat in the upcoming elections. But it is a Trumpite Republican mindset which is the bigger threat, as Liz Cheney has shown principle by voting to impeach Donald Trump, and has become Vice Chair of the House Select January 6 Committee to investigate the Insurrection that took place, the first time since the War of 1812 that the US Capitol and Washington DC came under attack.

Liz Cheney has lost her third ranking position as the House Republican Conference Chair as of May 2021, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Congressional Republicans have constantly denounced her. The Wyoming Republican Party has voted to censure her for supporting impeachment of Trump and agreeing to be Vice Chair of the investigation of the January 6 Insurrection, and wants her to resign or be defeated in the 2022 state primary.

There are at least six Republicans planning to challenge Cheney in the primary, but Cheney has gained the backing of a number of sitting members of both houses of Congress, as well as some former such individuals.

So the odds are very favorable that Liz Cheney will keep her House seat, and she has hinted at mounting a campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2024!

Supposed Unpopularity Of Vice President Kamala Harris According To Conservatives: Preposterous!

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It is laughable how conservative websites and Republicans are promoting the view that Vice President Kamala Harris is the most unpopular Vice President since Spiro Agnew in the 1970s.

Think about the Vice Presidents since who are seen as positive forces—Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Walter Mondale, George H. W. Bush, Al Gore, Joe Biden.

Two of these–Ford and Bush became President, while Mondale and Gore lost Presidential races, and Biden has now become President.

Who has been left out?—-Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, Mike Pence.

Dick Cheney was certainly competent in a basic sense, but evil in his abuse of the office, promoting torture in the War on Terror, making money through Haliburton, and being a basic nasty individual, who many thought was really President instead of George W. Bush in the latter’s first term, until Bush finally asserted his authority over Cheney, and their relationship deteriorated.

Dan Quayle was a basically not too bright VP, who scared people at the thought that he might become President, when George H. W. Bush had some health scares.

But compared to Cheney and Quayle, the absolutely worst Vice President in modern times since Spiro Agnew was Mike Pence, who fawned all over Donald Trump, never spoke up when it was appropriate and necessary to do so, and now we learn, he was considering NOT keeping his oath that required him as Vice President to announce the Electoral College vote on January 6, 2021!

Of all people, it was Dan Quayle who convinced Pence he had no choice. And Pence was under threat caused by his own boss, Donald Trump, and yet refuses to condemn him and speak out on the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection!

Instead, his rabid desire to be President, which will never happen, makes him live in an alternative world, and to think his so called “good Christian” image will propel him to the White House in 2024!

No sane or decent person would call Mike Pence someone who would be “popular” or “decent”, but delusional Republicans and conservatives instead lie about history of Pence, and also, Cheney and Quayle!

The fact is that the “best” Vice Presidents since the 1970s are Walter Mondale, Al Gore, and Joe Biden! And Al Gore won the national popular vote over George W. Bush, but as we all know, lost the Electoral College!

Kamala Harris, the first woman, first biracial, first African American and Asian American Vice President, will survive the vicious attacks on her character and capability, and will join the list of outstanding Vice Presidents!

Her background as District Attorney of San Francisco; California Attorney General; and US Senator makes her perfectly capable and qualified, and her character, empathy, decency, and compassion match that of President Joe Biden!

And if fate has it that Harris might become President in this term or in a future term by election, the nation will be in good hands!

Joe Biden Explains The Absolute Truth About The Now Ended Afghanistan War!

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President Joe Biden, a very decent, humane, empathetic, compassionate man, told us yesterday in his speech to the nation the absolute truth about the end of the Afghanistan War, our longest war at 20 years.

Biden made clear we had lost 2,461 men and women, including 13 last Thursday; 20,561 wounded with many still disabled by physical injuries, and untold others by emotional and mental injuries; and had spent $2.3 trillion over 20 years, about $300 million for every day of the past 7,300 days since the war began. Also, 18 veterans a day on the average commit suicide, many of them due to their involvement in Afghanistan, or the even more heinous Iraq War!

We had two generations killed and wounded, and the money spent on the war could have been utilized to deal with poverty, discrimination, health care, education, infrastructure, the environment, and so much else.

So we need to spend $700 billion a year on defense spending?

Do we need to spend on all kinds of weapons that enrich politicians through bribes paid to promote production of them as part of the defense budget annually?

Do we need to have more than 800 military and naval bases in dozens of nations around the world, and lots of corruption going on in the process?

And of course, many wealthy industrialists and others became super wealthy and benefited financially from the war, most noticeably former Vice President Dick Cheney, who had connections with the corrupt organization, Halliburton, so no wonder that his daughter, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, would be super critical of the war that benefits her and her family members. And these are people who resist the thought of any payment of taxes personally or through their corporations, despite the massive tax cuts under George W. Bush and Donald Trump!

Republicans Are Responsible For Afghanistan, NOT Joe Biden Nor Barack Obama!

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Republicans are trying to make “Political Hay” on the withdrawal from Afghanistan, blaming Joe Biden and Barack Obama, but the evidence shows that it is THEIR party that is responsible for the debacle!

It was George W. Bush who authorized the invasion of Afghanistan, pushed by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

It was Cheney and Rumsfeld who promoted taking attention off Afghanistan, by going to war with Iraq, which made the Afghanistan War a lost cause years ago.

It was Donald Trump, who made a deal with the Taliban to withdraw, and considered seriously inviting them to Camp David for a summit. This was the reason why National Security Adviser John Bolton was fired by Donald Trump in 2019!

It was constant Republican pressure in Congress, controlled in the House of Representatives in 2011 and after, and in the Senate after 2015, that prevented total withdrawal under Obama, although Joe Biden had been a clear dissenter on that issue.

It is now Republicans who are ready to abandon our Afghan allies, who helped US troops, as they promote Islamophobia, and have no concern about the danger to women and girls under Taliban rule.

One must realize that Republicans have been misogynists for a long time, and show little concern or regard for women’s rights!