Conservatives Turn Against Liz Cheney - As Bad As McCarthy

The backlash is growing against Liz Cheney after she demonized Department of Justice attorneys as terrorist sympathizers for their past legal work defending Gitmo detainees -- and now it's coming from within deeply conservative legal circles.

On Friday, the conservative blog Power Line put up a post titled, "An Attack That Goes Too Far." Author Paul Mirengoff, called Cheney's effort to brand DoJ officials the "Al Qaeda 7," "vicious" and "unfounded" even if it was right to criticize defense lawyers for voluntarily doing work on behalf of Gitmo detainees.

Reached on the phone, Mirengoff offered an even sharper rebuke, contrasting what Cheney is doing to the anti-communist crusades launched by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and, in some respects, finding it worse.

"It could be worse than some of the assertions made by McCarthy, depending on some of the validity of those assertions," Mirengoff said, explaining that at least McCarthy was correct in pinpointing individuals as communist sympathizers. "It is just baseless to suggest that [these DoJ officials] share al Qaeda values... they didn't actually say it but I think it was a fair implication of what they were saying."

Mirengoff isn't alone among conservative legal theorists who think the ad campaign by Cheney's group, Keep America Safe, is distasteful. In a statement to the American Prospect, John Bellinger III, a former legal adviser to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, called the effort "unfortunate."

"It reflects the politicization and the polarization of terrorism issues," Bellinger said. "Neither Republicans nor Democrats should be attacking officials in each other's administrations based solely on the clients they have represented in the past."

The Keep America Safe ad is below:

Likewise, the Huffington Post reported on Thursday that back in 2007, Ted Olson -- who served as a lead counsel in Bush v. Gore and solicitor general of the United States -- co-authored an article for Legal Times in which he said that efforts to demonize detainee defense lawyers are antithetical to American values.

"When government officials are called 'war criminals' and when public-interest lawyers are called 'terrorist huggers,' it not only cheapens the discourse, it scrambles the dialogue," Olson wrote, along with Neal Katyal, currently a DoJ Deputy Solicitor General and one of the lawyers who represented Gitmo detainees. "The best solutions to these difficult problems will emerge only when the best advocates, backed by weighty resources, bring their talents to bear. And the heavy work of creating solutions for these complicated issues can only move forward when the name-calling ceases."

Cheney, for her part, shows no signs of relenting. Hours after her organization was able to browbeat the DoJ into releasing the names of the seven officials who previously represented detainees, it put out a statement demanding even more disclosure.

"We regret that they still refuse to tell the American people whether any of these lawyers are currently working on detainee issues inside the Department," said Aaron Harison, the executive director of Keep America Safe. "The American people have a right to know whether lawyers who voluntarily flocked to Guantanamo to take up the cause of the terrorists are currently working on detainee issues in President Obama's Justice Department."

Comments

[panamarine]

04:32 PM on 03/09/2010

She (Liz Cheney) and her KEEP AMERICA SAFE were deservedly reprimanded by Serious Lawmakers, and should take heed that they have overstepped their boundaries. It should prove to her and them that the McCarthy like actions towards these attorneys will not be tolerated going forward. Be it that she thinks she is doing the country a favor by employing gutter style politics against whom they call A-Qaeda "sympathisers" is short of slanderous (or maybe it is slander) and I think that an apology or retraction is requqired.....not that it will come from those stuborn jingoistic super neo-cons. They THINK that they and only them know how to fight and proceed the "war on terror". The true professional people in charge and operating in the shadows or in the open deserve respect at the obvious and not so obvious results of their endeavors---Not disparagement from the likes of Liz , her father Dick and the rest of the fearmongering, irrational bunch out there---screaming after January 20th that the country isn't safe with the Obama Government.

[retromega]

10:44 PM on 03/08/2010

Liz Cheney, while claiming to stand up for American she has decided that anyone who does not meet the Cheney family definition of True American is some how either a horribly illegal, immoral, person. As such these people are deserving of treatment not seen since Pol Pot was in charge in Cambodia! Like Pol Pot, in Liz Cheney's mind [sic] anyone who disagrees with the Cheney family standard of "justice" is as guilty as any mass murderer for disagreeing with he self sanctified view of the world!

She has disgraced her father, her family, and any American who has had the task of listening to such a corrupt and odious view of what it means to be an American! And as a nation with many Christian citizens, she has attempted to enlist a portion of them in a "crusade" against the very values they profess! I would hope every American will let her know that her brand of hatred, classism, racism, and summary "justice" has NO place in a Republic dedicated to liberty, justice, and place for every freedom loving person!

Her drivel is disgusting and an affront to every American citizen. Her moral code is more suited to one of Pol Pot's executioners than it is to any freedom loving American!

Too bad that Pol Pot's regime was so odious that not even the Vietnamese rulers couldn't stomach it! I guess Liz Cheney's talents are no longer wanted anyplace in the world! Unless you count Murdoch's Fox News!

[ztck5356]

06:42 PM on 03/08/2010

The GOP "Good Ole Boy's Club" does not include women Liz. You do not have the anatomy required to
act like the jerks they are. If women act like them, they are "beeches". I hope you fire back and "Give em H#LL!

[idisVA]

05:41 PM on 03/08/2010

I don't think the story is being overplayed. There's a genuine fall out as a result of Liz Cheney's over - reach. Moe fall out.

http://www.caaflog.com/2010/03/06/pro-bono-gitmo-lawyers-bad-military-gitmo-defense-counsel-not-morally-reprehensible/

[VeryFairMOR]

03:46 PM on 03/08/2010

This is being way overplayed here.
Sure, a few conservatives are unhappy with Liz.
Gee, are there any liberal democrats that are unhappy with Obama?
You can test assured that Liz Cheney, one of the really bright, young conservative women on the scene is in no danger of becoming unpopular among her fellow conservatives as a whole.
This web side is constantly taking a few lines out of contest, or one or two people's opinon in the conservative movement, and then claiming that the entire conservative movement thinks that.
I'm sure many republicans are guilty of this also.

[Harry Scrote]

04:57 PM on 03/08/2010

It says something when an extremely conservative blogger refers to her assumptions and opinions as "McCarthy"ish.

Also, in general, this liberal is not unhappy with Obama.

[WiltonDiary]

12:32 AM on 03/09/2010

This isn't about a "few" conservatives, this is about LEADING Conservatives, including Ken Starr. Ken is hardly a liberal leaning conservative!

[Photon55]

02:44 PM on 03/08/2010

The Cheneys are not a family--They're a gang. They are only interested in in their own personal gain and get out of their way. Dick Cheney used government "service" as a conduit to bigger and better things. Liz Cheney is using her father's "influence" to start a career in whatever it is she does. Mama Cheney is just being involved in anything that gets her noticed. The repeated assaults on the administration from these professional rabble rousers has gotten tiresome and annoying but with the record and standing of the Cheney's they only succeed in bringing embarrassment on themselves.

[traumabob]

01:41 PM on 03/08/2010

I fear that people who think like the Cheney's are doing more to destroy American ideals and values than any Progressive or terrorist.

[guilatty]

10:47 AM on 03/08/2010

Why would any Conservative want to run away from principles of due process? Isn't reining in government power what they stand for? Isn't due process the reining in of government power? The only explanation I can conjure up is that, once again, celebrity culture has enabled a feeble thinker who has everything wrong; but she is famous--she is famous for being famous--so she gets to blather and we get to listen. Here is an idea. Turn her off! How about not one more word on this woman?

[MarkAntney]

01:38 PM on 03/08/2010

Since you asked (a very good question BTW),

Perhaps It's because they don't necessarily believe what they say?

A tailormade example, they religiously touted we removed SH anyway because he tortured his own people, correct?

The irony in our govt having a Program to Torture Suspects, while standing by while our troops went to Prison over abuses, would be funny if it weren't so tragically and ironically true.

Small govt, fiscally responsible, national defense, trade, cutting taxes to fund two wars, not enough troops, not enough armor,...

They campaign one way and govern a total 180 from it.

>Why would any Conservative want to run away from principles of due process? Isn't reining in government power what they stand for? Isn't due process the reining in of government power?

[Duppy]

10:03 AM on 03/08/2010

Yes, why is Liz Cheeney getting so much air time. If these networks would not give her the time of day maybe she would just go away.

[Loni Wolf]

02:12 PM on 03/08/2010

THIS is why I read newspapers & watch very little TV" news"- that's because it's no longer news when someone with little experience besides her father's politcal office is interviewed as a politcal commentator or as a person with something to contribute. They have her to stir things up & get everyone in a lather over silly comments & ignorance of basic constitutional rights. If her name were LIz Chipman, they wouldn't give her the time of day. That's because instead of informing Cable has created a wasteland of MIS information. We as consumers have not held them accountable. They serve us" guests" who don't know cotton from cotton candy. THEY DO THIS FOR RATINGS! Stop Watching Half baked Cable shows & start READING Newspapers that tell the WHOLE story- not just a series of sound bites. When their ratings decline, they will respond with what we demand- NEWS - not propaganda..They should be locked up & forced to watch tapes of Edward R. Murrow & Walter Cronkite until they learn how to be journalists!

[bigfated]

03:37 PM on 03/08/2010

If she's really so concerned about America's future----she should devote her efforts to having her WAR CRIMINAL father arrested----and hopefully----executed! That is, after all, what becomes of traitors!

[lovable]

09:52 AM on 03/08/2010

WHEN FOX TURNS ON HER THATS WHEN SHE WILL STOP. UNTIL THEN U MENTION CONSERVATIVS NOT ON TV

[Loni Wolf]

08:59 AM on 03/08/2010

Liz Cheney has all the charm of a root canal. Why do you think the mainstream Repubs are "distancing" themselves from her &her old man/? their fondest wish is they would shut up & be trotted out for fundraisers for the faithful base. But alas,Cheney is looking for redemption that will never come. He doesn't like being blamed for one of the worst administrations in history & seeks to rewrite it .While W sulks at his ranch, he doesn't even have a book deal & neither does Cheney, Hence, his willingness to go on any show that will have him. It's really pathetic, but it's the best thing to happen to the Dems for November. Every dumb remark the Cheneys, Delay, DeMint , Bunning, etc. make only serve to remind people of the Bad old days. Everyday now that an AL Quida Leader is killed or captured shows how ineffective the Bushies were at actually fighting terrorism. I predict that their accusations will grow more ridicilous & desperate because the GOP believes the American people to be easily influenced, fearful & not brave. I say let's give them more rope to hang themselves - I believe in my country and her people

[jalowe1957]

10:53 AM on 03/08/2010

Actually, Liz Cheney has all the charm of a serpent in the Garden of Eden, and is every bit as slinky and snake-hipped.

[Eris23]

12:00 PM on 03/08/2010

I actually find her fairly ineffective. There simply isn't a soul that takes her seriously except for those who were already thoroughly on her side. She's not converting anyone to her side.

[gallimaufry03]

11:15 AM on 03/08/2010

I agree but the problem is that a large portion of the American populace won't listen to common sense. They cling to the invective and fear-mongering. They BELIEVE the lies and the innuendos. Whether is simple ignorance or out-and-out stupidity is irrelevant.

I honestly don't know that there's anyone who can say anything to change even one mind that focuses on anything those people have to say.

And isn't that a crying shame?

[1murillo]

06:47 AM on 03/08/2010

Conservatives might have turned against Cheney, but Huffington hasn't. Cheney is still getting Huffington's indirect support through this story and continued access.

[gallimaufry03]

11:17 AM on 03/08/2010

When she's making outlandish comments -- when she is publicly vilifying people who are upholding the US Constituation -- it's news. I'd like for her to go away as well.

But since she isn't, the very least we need is to know what she's saying so that it can be countered.

[SolarArray]

02:19 AM on 03/08/2010

She is much worse than Macarthy because she should have learned from that. But that's not the Cheney way. Sure glad that she is irrelevent and just a cartoon character but it would be nice to see her and her daddy sitting side by each in the docket.

[turbowei]

02:08 AM on 03/08/2010

Liz Cheney wants a kangaroo court.

[gallimaufry03]

11:21 AM on 03/08/2010

Not really. Liz Cheney wants old west justice where the trial is skipped and the hanging public.

[TomDi]

12:22 PM on 03/08/2010

Ironically, say DOJ sources, while Holder and his staff continue to work hard to protect the identities of those attorneys who provided legal advice to suspected or convicted terrorists, several of the attorneys in question are believed to have been instrumental in the efforts of Human Rights Watch and CREW to leak to the media and Democrat supporters on Capitol Hill, the names of CIA interrogators of enemy combatants and suspected terrorists, as well as the locations of foreign-based U.S. secure holding facilities and various interrogation techniques used on terror suspects and enemy combatants.

[cuardai]

02:05 AM on 03/08/2010

Perhaps it is time for a third party that is not Democratic, Republican or TeaBag. But one that is not afraid to vote for the good of the people. Maybe one that doesn't have members elected to office more than once?......A girl can dream....