Following Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) loss in Tuesday‘s primary, the now-defeated lawmaker has become a media darling.
Rather than perform the typical political obit that accompanies a primary defeat, Cheney has received acclaim, unlike other Congressional losers, who were in the same boat.
On Wednesday (August 17), a Washington Post editorial boldly claimed: “The Country Needs More Liz Cheneys.”
A POLITICO column titled their write-up about the Wyoming lawmaker “Liz Cheney’s Non-Concession Speech.” Suggesting in the column that she may start her own political party.
Following her primary loss, Cheney also appeared on Wednesday’s episode of “Today,” where she told host Savannah Guthrie: “I will be doing whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office.”
On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain had nothing but good things to say about the Wyoming politician.
This is quite the feat for a Congresswoman who failed to get 30 percent against her Trump-backed Harriet Hageman.
Cheney’s less than stellar performance could have been worse had some Democrat voters not crossed over in the hope of helping Cheney salvage her seat in the House. But those efforts were in vain in a predominantly Republican state, where voters feel Cheney’s old brand of conservative politics doesn’t represent them.
During her speech — described by the New York Times as “directed not just at Republican voters, but at a wider national audience” — in which she conceded to Hageman, Cheney hinted at her future.
She quoted Martin Luther King Jr. on the long arc of history bending toward justice and used Civil War General Ulysses Grant as an example of taking heavy losses before marching on to victory.
Cheney then called for “Republicans, Democrats, and independents” to come together “against those who would destroy our republic.”
