David Drucker of the Washington Examiner writes that former Vice President Dick Cheney “lurks” behind the scenes as his daughter’s political star rises.
Controversial former Vice President Dick Cheney, who was castigated by liberals as the evil genius behind former President George W. Bush, is now a steady, quiet, and influential force behind his daughter Liz Cheney’s climb to the highest echelons of GOP politics.
A political duo since Dick Cheney, 78, left the West Wing in 2009, their partnership has extended to the House of Representatives, where Liz Cheney, 52, was elected the No. 3 ranking Republican after winning just her second term last year in the at-large seat her father once held. The Wyoming congresswoman’s chief of staff is a longtime Dick Cheney aide, and the former veep is a ubiquitous presence at strategy sessions and at fundraisers for her political operation.
“The vice president has been Liz’s top adviser during her brief congressional career,” said Cesar Conda, the elder Cheney’s former chief domestic policy adviser in the White House and now a partner at the Washington lobbying firm Navigators Global. “I can see her dad’s influence.”
Liz Cheney is focused on the job at hand — driving the party’s message on Capitol Hill as House Republican Conference chairwoman and helping the GOP win back the majority. But knowledgeable Republicans say she is not content as the House Republicans’ No. 3 and doesn’t see herself as limited by the pecking order that puts her behind House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.
