Liz Cheney is making a new effort to convince Democrats that she is “one of the good ones” by explaining that her previous opposition to gay marriage was a mistake. Cheney has increasingly moved to make herself a viable ally for congressional Democrats since her vote to impeach Donald Trump, a vote which has inspired Trump and other Republicans to vow that they will do everything in their power to ensure that she is voted out of office.
Cheney disavows former gay marriage opposition
The Wyoming representative presents herself as a principled opponent to Donald Trump who has always stood by her conscience in defiance of what her party favors.
It is hard to view the latest shift in those principles as anything other than a blatant ploy to win over Democrats now that Republicans have begun to lose patience.
Cheney claims that she has changed her mind and that her former opposition to gay marriage was wrong, falling in line with what the rest of her powerful family believes.
She identified herself as an opponent of gay marriage in 2013 before a failed run for Senate, sparking a rift within the family.
Conveniently, Cheney found that she was a strong defender of traditional marriage when it was beneficial to be one in 2013 and a supporter of gay marriage now that it is socially unacceptable to be anything else in 2021.
For a supposedly principled and independent-minded Republican these are two very well timed shifts in what are allegedly deeply held convictions.
A desperate reelection campaign
Cheney has attempted to frame her 2022 run for reelection as a constitutional battle which may be the most important House race in the country.
A vote against Liz Cheney, she says, will be a vote against the Constitution and for Donald Trump. Her primary opponent has the full backing of Trump.
She appears to be positioning herself to receive support from Democrats in fending off Republican challenger Harriet Hageman.
This may be a somewhat effective strategy; there is clearly a market for Cheney style politicians among Democrats who enjoy having anti-Trump Republicans on hand to prove that opposition to the former president is a bipartisan cause.
On the other hand, Democrats could simply support their own candidate. Cheney has repudiated her former stance on gay marriage but she has not begun to espouse liberal opinions on gun control or abortion.
If this initial condemnation of her former political positions is meant to truly save her career as a House Republican, it may simply be too little too late.