And you thought Dick Cheney was the only one in his family to make disparaging statements to other Congress and former Congress members.
Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson says Lynne Cheney told him to “shut up” during a reception Saturday night in Cody, about a week after another spat between two of Wyoming’s most prominent political figures.
“She just said, ‘Shut up,’” Simpson said during an interview with the Casper Star-Tribune on Tuesday. “You can just read into it what you want to. I don’t know what she meant. She was very intense.”
Lynne Cheney is the wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney and mother of Liz Cheney, a 2014 Republican primary challenger to incumbent U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi. Liz Cheney staffer Kara Ahern emailed a statement Tuesday night from Lynne Cheney, saying her exchange with Simpson harkened back to a previous interaction with him at a fundraiser in Laramie. “The conversation was not about Mike Enzi,” the statement said.
Simpson’s daughter-in-law, Deb Oakley Simpson, posted a comment on her Facebook page the night of the Cody reception about the exchange. “I believe the direct quote was ‘shut your mouth’ regarding his support of Mike Enzi,” she wrote. Deb Simpson later told the Star-Tribune she was describing the comment second-hand.
But Ahern disputed the Facebook account. Ahern said Deb Simpson wasn’t present during the conversation. Ahern released a statement on Monday attributed to Lynne Cheney that said Lynne loved Alan Simpson and his wife.
“We have been friends for over 40 years,” the statement said. “As to the story posted on Facebook, I have to admit I am at a bit of a loss. That simply did not happen.”
Simpson said the conversation was animated and people were looking at them. “It disintegrated for the both of us,” he said.
This is rich. Lynne blames Simpson over his supposed behavior in Laramie.
What does Lynne Cheney tell the Casper Star-Tribune now?
“It was about Al’s blowup at the FMC event in Laramie, when my 15-year-old granddaughter asked him to sign a football to be used to raise money for cancer patients in Rock Springs,” Cheney said of the confrontation at the Cody fundraiser. “Al was rude to my granddaughter and I told him he was out of line. The topic was not Mike Enzi.”
If you've forgotten the type of person Lynne Cheney is, I included a video from 2006 at the top of this post where she attacked her good friend Wolf Blitzer by saying he has a liberal bias against Dick Cheney over a CNN documentary that didn't portray her hubby in a glowing light. She worked for CNN on Crossfire Sunday so Wolf was unprepared for her assault.
CHENEY: I watched your program last night and I was troubled.
BLITZER: All right. Well, that was probably the purpose, to get people to think, to get people to discuss these issues because ... (CROSSTALK)
CHENEY: Well, all right, Wolf. I'm here to talk about my book, but if you want to talk about distortion ...
BLITZER: We'll talk about your book.
CHENEY: Well, right, but what is CNN doing running terrorist tapes of terrorists shooting Americans? I mean, I saw Duncan Hunter ask you a very good question and you didn't answer it. Do you want us to win?
BLITZER: The answer is, of course, we want the United States to win. We are Americans. There's no doubt about that. Do you think we want terrorists to win?
CHENEY: Then why are you running terrorist propaganda?
BLITZER: With all due respect -- with all due respect, this is not terrorist propaganda.
CHENEY: Oh, Wolf.
BLITZER: This is reporting the news which is what we do. We're not partisan.
CHENEY: Where did you get the film?
BLITZER: We got the film -- look, this is an issue that has been widely discussed. This is an issue that we have reported on extensively. We make no apologies for showing that. That was a very carefully considered decision, why we did that, and I think -- and I think -- that if you're ...
CHENEY: Well, I think it's shocking.
BLITZER: ...a serious journalist, you want to report the news. Sometimes the news is good, sometimes the news isn't so good but ...
CHENEY: But, Wolf, there's a difference between the news and terrorist propaganda. Why ... (CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: And if you put it in context, that's what news is. We said it was propaganda. We didn't distort where we got it. We didn't distort anything about it. We gave it the context. Let's talk about another issue in the news, then we'll get to the book. This -- the Democrats are now complaining bitterly in this Virginia race, George Allen using novels -- novels -- that Jim Webb, his Democratic challenger, has written in which there are sexual references, and they're making a big deal out of this. I want you to listen to what Jim Webb said today in responding to this very sharp attack from George Allen.
Blitzer was so upset by her statements that he went on the air the next day to proclaim to the American people that he is indeed a Patriot: Wolf Blitzer: I am too a Patriot.
(Sorry for the quality of the video. It was all we had back then.)
