Former Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to an audience of House Republicans Tuesday on foreign policy and what he said really irked libertarian Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Justin Amash (R-Mich.).
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Massie took the high road at first, saying “I don’t want to comment. He was nice enough to come over and talk to the conference,” but went on to say a little bit more.
He said Cheney’s main point was that the U.S. needs to increase the defense budget. Massie, on the other hand, thinks that “We need to spend to less money on everything.”
Amash is wondering why Republicans are still listening to Cheney on foreign policy after the Iraq War.
When asked if Republicans should stop listening to Cheney, Amash said “Yeah. His worldview is that we should be in countries around the world and have armed forces everywhere — and most Republicans don’t agree with that.”
Nonetheless, Robert Costa’s article in the Washington Post — which you should read in full — shows that there are still Republicans who gush over Cheney.
Here’s what Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) had to say: “He is a man of great gravitas and poise. He is not a light individual. He tells it like it is, especially focused on national security.”
A House Republican aide speaking on the condition of anonymity told Costa, “Oh, [Cheney’s] back, he clearly loves being back, and we don’t mind having him. Not one hostile question, and I think that says a lot.”
There was an opportunity at the end of Cheney’s speech for the Amash and Massie to ask questions, but they declined.
Costa speculated as to why that was the case:
Amash and Massie, by avoiding a back-and-forth with Cheney in front of their colleagues, underscored the difficult political terrain they face within their own party as they try to change it. Younger grassroots types may increasingly be with them, and averse to the Bush-era foreign policy approach, but most GOP lawmakers remain wary of shifting their traditional values on foreign policy.
Cheney doubled down on Tuesday’s speech when he spoke at American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday:
There is without question a strain of isolationism, if you will, some call it a strong feeling against war. It’s a view you’ll find in various places in our society and there is a certain part of our party that I think holds to those precepts.
It’s difficult to buy into the proposition that we’ll be safe if we just stay behind our oceans and let the rest of the world stew in its own juices. Part of the problem obviously is to remind my friends in the Republican side of the aisle, as well as some of the Democrats, that the issues I talk about here are very real and very imminent.
These words were clearly a jab at congressmen like Massie, Amash and of course Sen. Rand Paul, who have all been cast as “isolationists” for their more restrained foreign policy views.
That Cheney is still considered a major authority by Republicans on foreign policy is puzzling, since it is arguable that his administration’s policies in Iraq paved the way for today’s imminent showdown with the Islamic State.
In June, Fox News Megyn Kelly said to the former vice president, “Time and time again, history has proven that you got it wrong as well in Iraq, sir…”