That Labor Day picnic at the Cheney Wyoming compound is about to become really awkward. Atop the smell of burgers, hotdogs, and beer will be the stench of Liz Cheney‘s announcement today that she apparently opposes her sister Mary’s marriage, and Mary, her wife, and their kids don’t deserve the same protections, rights, and responsibilities that Liz and her Republican political appointee husband Phillip Perry and their five kids have. Mary Cheney is married to her longtime partner, Heather Poe. The couple, who married June 22 last year — on the 20th anniversary of their first meeting — are raising a young boy and girl.
“Cheney, 43, a former AOL exec who later moved into political consulting, met Poe, 51, formerly a park ranger, in 1988 while playing ice hockey. They have two children, a boy born in 2007, and a girl born in 2009. They married in Washington, where gay marriage is legal; the couple lives in Northern Virginia,” the Washington Post reported last year:
“Mary and Heather have been in a committed relationship for many years, and we are delighted that they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to have that relationship recognized,†the Cheneys said in a statement. The news was first reported by the Daily Caller, a conservative Web site.
Apparently, the Cheney clan likes Tucker Carlson‘s Daily Caller, because that piece of trash website today reports, “Liz Cheney flatly declared on Friday that she is ‘not pro-gay marriage.’”
Cheney, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming, made the policy statement after accusing the campaign of incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Enzi of distorting her views on the subject through a campaign push poll.
“I am strongly pro-life and I am not pro-gay marriage,†Cheney said in a statement released by her campaign. “I believe the issue of marriage must be decided by the states, and by the people in the states, not by judges and not even by legislators, but by the people themselves.â€
Perhaps “the people themselves” will also decide if Liz Cheney is legally able to run for the U.S. Senate from Wyoming, especially after being forced to pay bond after she seems to have claimed on her Wyoming fishing license that she was a ten-year resident. Cheney first blamed the clerk for the “error,” but then admitted her statement was incorrect, saying, “It was my mistake not to realize there was a 365-day requirement to hold a resident license,†the Washington Post reported. “The clerk did not ask how long I had lived in Wyoming.” How the actual application says she lived there for ten years is a mystery.
Liz Cheney has spent years as the war-mongering founder and head of Keep America Safe, an anti-Islam group co-founded with neocon William Kristol.
On thing seems clear. “The people themselves” likely will decide Liz Cheney has no business in the U.S. Senate.
Oh, and that photo of the picnic table in the snow at the top, by the way? That’s actually from Liz Cheney’s U.S. Senate Facebook page (which has all of 5071 “likes”), posted May 1. The caption reads: “Good morning from Wilson, Wyoming. Global warming? Not so much.” Because — ha ha! — snow in May means no climate change!…
Image of the Cheneys and grandson via the White House. Photo by David Bohrer.