fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

The Very Short-Lived Cheney Dynasty (III)

Jason Zengerle has written a good profile of the Cheneys in Politico Magazine, but this line stood out as wildly inaccurate: When Cheney jumped into the race, the assumption among the political cognoscenti was that the incumbent was in trouble. That’s not true. Cheney’s primary challenge has received attention mainly because she has a famous […]

Jason Zengerle has written a good profile of the Cheneys in Politico Magazine, but this line stood out as wildly inaccurate:

When Cheney jumped into the race, the assumption among the political cognoscenti was that the incumbent was in trouble.

That’s not true. Cheney’s primary challenge has received attention mainly because she has a famous last name, and the sheer futility of her campaign has attracted a certain amount of baffled curiosity. No one outside the Cheneys’ circle has ever seriously believed that Enzi was in any real trouble politically, and nothing has happened in the last few months to change that. If anything, Enzi is in even less danger of losing than he was when Cheney first announced, because he didn’t simply dismiss the challenge as he almost certainly could have. Zengerle describes the effect the challenge has had on Enzi and his supporters:

And Enzi’s not the only one who’s been spurred into action by Cheney. “I’ve always had a lot of volunteers, but this time I have a lot of passionate volunteers,” Enzi told me, “They’re pushing me for more bumper stickers, more signs.” What explains their passion? I asked. “The opposition,” he replied.

That is what ultimately makes the latest intra-Cheney quarreling so senseless. There was never a realistic chance that Liz Cheney was going to win the nomination, so everything that she has done for the sake of her campaign was entirely unnecessary and served no purpose.

Advertisement

Comments

The American Conservative Memberships
Become a Member today for a growing stake in the conservative movement.
Join here!
Join here