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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Middle-East "Expert" Cheney to Advise Romney The Nation -- Crawling from the wreckage of the Fred Thompson for President campaign is the former principal deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department. This Bush administration specialist on the tenuous circumstances of what may be the world's most volatile region now joins Mitt Romney's campaign as a "senior foreign policy adviser." This is not the sort of development that would excite many campaigns. Washington is sick with "principle deputy assistants" peddling their inflated resumes in search of new positions. They are the departmental hangers-on -- desperate to retain ranking accorded them only by virtue of political or paternal connections -- who attach to new campaigns in hopes of getting work in another administration. But the Romney campaign thought enough of its latest recruit to circulate a press release announcing this campaign coup. The new adviser to the campaign declared that she was "proud to support Governor Romney" because he is "dedicated to the success of our missions in Iraq and Afghanistan" and :is the only candidate who has outlined a comprehensive strategy for defeating the global Jihadist threat." That sounds, um, interesting. Unless you know that this "expert" on "the global Jihadist threat" is Elizabeth Cheney. Yes, the vice president's daughter, having lent the Thompson campaign her name to no avail, is now embracing the Romney campaign. Liz is not, it will be noted, the famous Cheney daughter. She's the mother of five who from 2002 to 2006 took up space in the State Department in various sinecures dealing with Middle East policy. She was brought in at a point when the Vice President's office was in conflict with the State Department over whether there was any credible argument to be made for invading Iraq. Dick Cheney began inserting loyalists in political posts within the department in an effort to tip the balance against the evidence and in favor of his neo-conservative fantasies. Who better than his eldest daughter, whose employment history might generously be described as having benefited from her father's ability to distribute the emoluments of office. There is no word yet on which if any of the foes of gay rights seeking the Republican nomination will win the support of the vice president's more prominent daughter, Mary, who as the director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney 2004 Presidential re-election campaign was arguably the most prominent out lesbian on a campaign that made so much of its opposition to same-sex marriage. Despite her role in the campaign, Mary Cheney did not join family members of the nominees on stage at the 2004 Republican National Convention. (Conservative Alan Keyes, then campaigning as the Republican nominee for the Illinois U.S. Senate seat that would be won by Barack Obama, was denouncing her as "a hedonist" at the time.) The less-controversial Liz has always been welcome at party functions and in offices at the State Department. Indeed, she is even extended the politeness of being treated as something of an "expert" on the Middle East -- sort of like her father. Like this article? Try 4 issues of The Nation at home (and online) FREE.
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#1. To: robin (#0)
Elizabeth L. Cheney, Member of Council on Foreign Relations
Such a cozy family.
No shame.
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