Senator Cheney?

June 12, 2007

With Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyoming) having passed away, Wyoming election law directs the state Republican Party to put together a list of three possible replacements, from which Gov. David Freudenthal (D) will chose Thomas’ successor.

Last week, without any real detail, MSNBC reported that Lynne Cheney, the VP’s wife, might be considered for the post. Today, ThinkProgress notes that the Casper Star Tribune reported that Cheney isn’t exactly going out of her way to deny the rumors.

A lot of Republicans — maybe 20, maybe more — want to replace the late Craig Thomas in the U.S. Senate, State GOP Chairman Fred Parady said Monday.

Applicants already include recently resigned Wyoming U.S. Attorney Matt Mead, state Rep. Colin Simpson of Cody, state Sen. John Barrasso of Casper, and former state GOP Chairman Tom Sansonetti of Cheyenne. […]

A spokesperson for Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice president, would not deny that she, too, was a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat, according to The Associated Press.

I can only hope that if Cheney is added to the list for Freudenthal, it’s done to make the other two candidates look reasonable.

TP put together some of Cheney’s more notable intemperate statements from the last three years, but the truth is, if one tried to make a comprehensive list, it’d take a while. Lynne Cheney was a right-wing co-host of CNN’s Crossfire for several years and she was a “scholar” at the American Enterprise Institute. Her record as a far-right activist is long and, well, kind of frightening.

For that matter, the notion of Dick Cheney as president of the Senate, and Lynne Cheney as a member of the Senate, is a little too much to bear.

The filing deadline with the Wyoming GOP is Thursday afternoon, with the contenders announced on Friday. Stay tuned.

Is that even possible? Having Lynne Cheney in the Senate, and Dick Cheney as VP, doesn’t that pose some kind of twisted conflict of interest?

Not that I’m saying this current administration is averse to that sort of thing.

  • “Is that even possible?”

    I am sure that a review of the early political history of the United States of America would show that relatives have served in similar capacities in the past. Maybe not husband/wife, but father/son, brother/brother, etc.

  • Freudenthal gets to make the decision, and it’s non-appealable, right? Sounds simple to me – Freudenthal’s probably already disliked by the Cheneys for the crime of being a Democrat, and the mouthbreathers aren’t going to vote for him anyway, so where’s the downside to embarassing the Bitch of Belsen, er, I mean Casper?

  • The first time I heard this, I threw up in my mouth a little…subsequent reports have made me just as queasy.

    One Cheney in an official role is already one more than we ever needed; two might be a sign of the Apocalypse.

  • Freudenthal gets to make the decision, and it’s non-appealable, right? Sounds simple to me – Freudenthal’s probably already disliked by the Cheneys for the crime of being a Democrat, and the mouthbreathers aren’t going to vote for him anyway, so where’s the downside to embarassing the Bitch of Belsen, er, I mean Casper?

    Plus, it would really throw a monkeywrench in the Wyoming Republi-Klan party.

  • Remember that Freudenthal may be running for that seat, so he may be picking his own opponent. Thus picking a lunatic like Cheney may not be a bad call for him. On the other hand, everything I know and have heard about the guy suggest he is way to reasonable to do somethinh like that to his state. Should be fun though.

  • Sorry folks. As much as I would enjoy watching L. Cheney make an idiot of herself during an election, this has to be a joke.

    The C.S. Trib article is about the large number people who are interested in running for the seat. Could it be the reporters called L.C.’s office and jokingly asked if she were running the spokesperson jokingly issued a non-denial denial? Y

    (Hint: Yep.)

  • Republican loonies…

    the more the merrier, until 2008, when we flush them down the toilet en masse.

  • I never understood the Republicans’ venomous hate of the Clintons. Now I see it’s jealousy. No one could imagine one of their wives as an actual equal, with thoughts and ambitions separate from her husband’s. With Lynne in the Senate, I can hear the collective sigh of relief.

  • There’s a theory that one of the main (and possibly sole) motivations of right wing Republicans is simply to stick it to “liberals” and what could be more “in your face” than naming Lynne Cheney to the Senate?

  • I can only hope that if Cheney is added to the list for Freudenthal, it’s done to make the other two candidates look reasonable.

    This would be looking for a silver lining where there’s likely not to be one. They’d look reasonable because Cheney is a political nonstarter (I hope) — too rabid, divisive, yet also too strong just from fundraising potential and name recognition. But my guess is that the other 2 nominees might well be just as rabid or worse. Who knows; maybe Freudenthaler would bet that he can defeat Lynne Cheney in a high profile election. While 2 years of her would be a high price for the rest of us to pay, the alternatives might be worse.

    For my part, I’m hoping F. decides go for broke and nominate himself or another Democrat, or alternatively to nominate no one at all. All of these options are arguably what the 17th Amendment authorize him to do, regardless of Wyoming law.

  • “There’s a theory that one of the main (and possibly sole) motivations of right wing Republicans is simply to stick it to “liberals””

    Oh I think that this is no theory any more. Cheney himself and Rove have both admitted to such. And as Spector stated yesterday, the main reason the GOP Senators did not vote for cloture on Abu G was that they did not wish to hand the Dems a ‘victory”–how not doing what is known to be in the best interests of the country and instead supporting what is a known judicial malpractice is a victory for anyone I will never know. This motivation may soon be added officially to the GOP platform, right behind cutting taxes and rewarding the very wealthy.

  • “Lynne Cheney, Senator” sends much the same frisson of horror down the spine as “Edward Scissorhands, Gynecologist” might. Well, if it ever happens, I won’t need to be in Washington to know. The skies will grow dark all over the world and it will begin to rain toads.

  • c’mon. lynn cheney doesn’t want a real job where she’ll be expected to work. she’s got all that halliburton money. please.

  • ah hell, let her go for it. i couldn’t care any less at this point.

    and it might be nice to watch a cheney dragged through the mud — even if it has to be that one.

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