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You can add Liz Cheney's name to the list of Republicans that aren't in any mood to help poor old Reince and the rest of them out with their latest farce of a "rebranding" effort. As Steve Benen noted, Cheney's op-ed in Rupert Murdoch's rag this week is laughably delusional. I'd qualify that by saying it would be were it not for the fact that this woman is actually taken seriously by so many: Cheney slips further down the rabbit hole:

The point of Liz Cheney's Wall Street Journal op-ed today is fairly predictable and not altogether uncommon among far-right activists -- she wants the Republican Party to resist the urge to become more mainstream, and instead "fight" harder against the GOP's real and imagined enemies. But in execution, Cheney's piece is a rather extraordinary work of delusion.

Jon Chait highlights some of the more glaring problems with the op-ed -- he uses it to argue, persuasively, that Cheney is "obviously stark raving mad" -- which reads like a bizarre rant from a partisan so filled with rage towards President Obama that reason was thrown out the window when the writer made a right-hand turn into Crazy Town. Cheney is certain, for reasons that remain mysterious, that Obama has "launched a war on Americans' Second Amendment rights," is deliberately sabotaging capitalism, and wants to destroy the nation's global standing on purpose.

It's a truly ridiculous tirade with all the sophistication and accuracy of a Breitbart comments section. But there's also an unintentionally amusing part -- Cheney's unhinged rant includes this Ronald Reagan quote from 1961:

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it and then hand it to them with the well-taught lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."

This is, to be sure, a popular quote on the right, and if it seems familiar to long-time readers, it's because I've written about it several times before.

In this case, however, Cheney forgot to look up the context in which Reagan made these comments before relying on it. Indeed, note that at one point in the quote, Reagan said, "And if you and I don't do this," although in Cheney's piece, there's no frame of reference to tell the reader what "this" is.

And what was Reagan referring to at the time? I'm glad you asked. "This" was referring to preventing the creation of Medicare. [...]

And so, freedom-loving Americans had to stop Medicare or we "may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."

Yes, that evil Medicare that's going to enslave everyone, just like, as Steve also noted, Social Security, and now "Obamacare." Chait's column which Steve referenced is worth a full read as well which you can find here: Liz Cheney Is Even More Bonkers Than We Suspected.

Emily Arrowood and Simon Maloy also took the op-ed apart over at Media Matters: Liz Cheney: Get Over 2012 And Start Embracing Romneyism :

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Color me not shocked that Fox is carrying water for wingnut Sen. Ted Cruz and his dishonest attack on former Sen. Chuck Hagel during yesterday's confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense. Sean Hannity opened up his show by replaying part of Cruz' cheap shot at Hagel earlier that day.

Fox's Hannity Lauds Sen. Cruz' Deceptive Attack On Chuck Hagel:

Fox News host Sean Hannity applauded Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for his attack on Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel, claiming that Cruz' questioning during the Hagel's hearing demonstrated that he had made anti-American and anti-Semitic comments. But Cruz' claim that Hagel had accused Israel of a "sickening slaughter" was based on distorted quotes from heavily-cropped sound clips.

On the January 31 edition of his Fox News program, Hannity aired a portion of Hagel's confirmation hearing in which Cruz referenced an Israeli attack on Hezbollah and claimed that Hagel described Israel's actions as a "sickening slaughter." Cruz went on to ask, "Do you think it's right that Israel was committing, quote, a 'sickening slaughter,' as you said on the floor of the Senate?": [...]

Despite Hannity's approval of Cruz' line of questioning, Hagel was not accusing Israel of engaging in a "sickening slaughter" of Lebanon, he was decrying the escalation of violence by all parties in the region. As Slate's Dave Weigel points out, Hagel "described the conflict that way--a sickening slaughter was occurring --blaming both sides, and quickly following up by criticizing Iran and invoking the 'special relationship.' Cruz's truncation of the quote completely changed the meaning." [...]

Hannity also applauded a portion of the hearings in which Cruz used deceptively edited footage again to claim Hagel called the U.S. the bullies of the world after playing edited sound clips of an interview Hagel conducted in 2009. Hannity aired Cruz dismissing Hagel's denials, and called Cruz' questioning a "checkmate" on Hagel: [...]

In fact, the full context of the statements made by Hagel were not presented during the hearing, nor later on Hannity's show.

And who did Hannity follow up with to continue his dishonest attack on Hagel? None other than Liz Cheney -- because God knows we can't have a discussion on national security or foreign policy on Fox without getting the neocon point of view.

Hannity and Cheney called Hagel about every name in the book and implied that he was feckless after hearing his testimony today. That's pretty rich coming from Bush administration cheerleader Hannity and the daughter of someone who likely qualifies as one of, if not the worst Vice Presidents -- someone who dishonored the office in which he served. Both of them actually believe that Donald Rumsfeld did a good job as Secretary of Defense.

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Dick Cheney may have accidentally shot a man in the face while he was vice president, but that didn't stop Fox News from flying to Nevada to get his advice on recently-proposed gun control laws.

Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins caught up with Cheney over the week at the Safari Club International convention for gun owners and manufacturers, where the former vice president and his daughter, Liz, participated in a discussion about gun rights and the realism of torture in the film "Zero Dark Thirty."

Cheney told Jenkins he was "worried" about President Barack Obama's efforts to increase gun safety.

"We may end up in a situation where you get a proposal or a proposition that does, in fact, threaten the rights of law-abiding Americans, and at the same time, doesn't do anything with respect to the problem everybody's concerned about, such as the shooting that happened in Connecticut," the Wyoming Republican said.

"I find especially in groups like the group here and an awful lot of my folks in Wyoming who supported me all those years in Congress are very, very concerned that there isn't adequate regard for the rights of law-abiding citizens," he added. "We understand that there's clearly an effort underway, but one of the things we've done in Wyoming -- with respect to Jackson Hole, where I live, with respect to safety of schools -- we have a deputy sheriff, armed deputy sheriff at the schools in the city. And that's probably a more effective deterrent than anything that Congress seems to be debating at the present time."

"How worried are you the President Obama's gun control plan threatens the Second Amendment rights of every law-abiding American?" Jenkins asked.

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Jon Stewart took a shot at Sarah Palin as well on this Monday evening's The Daily Show, but he spent the majority of this segment absolutely skewering Sean Hannity and Dan Senor, or as we like to call him, Baghdad Bob, for their sheer and utter hypocrisy on the topic of whether the United States ought to be promoting democracy around the world.

Apparently their view is completely dependent on whether it's George W. Bush, or that Kenyan usurper they hate so much in the White House. Stewart ended the segment by having Senor literally debate himself.

Maybe that hack Scarborough can show Senor this clip the next time they decide to have that neocon warmonger sitting in on the entire three hours of Morning Joke again.

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Fox News contributor Liz Cheney on Sunday blasted President Barack Obama with the false claim that he had apologized to enemies of the United States and had abandoned Czechoslovakia, which has not existed since 1992.

During a panel on ABC's This Week, host Jake Tapper asked the daughter of the former vice president if she agreed with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's assertion that Obama was "sympathizing" with the people who attacked the U.S. embassy in Libya and killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and other Americans.

"I think he did get it right," Cheney insisted. "We've now had three and a half years of Obama policy and it looks an awful lot like -- whether you're talking about the Mexico City speech in 2009, the Cairo Speech in 2009, the extent to which he's been apologizing for America, he's abandoned some of our key allies like Israel, Poland, Czechoslovakia. He's attempted to appease our enemies, the Iranians, for example, the Russians. ... The president himself has got a terrible record on national security, and it's clearly something that Gov. Romney ought rightly to be pushing."

"I think the governor handled it exactly right when he went out and condemned the embassy statement," she later added. "I think, frankly, it would be a tragedy for the nation if President Obama is allowed to effectively claim that he's been a successful national security president. And it would be a tragedy for the nation if the Romney campaign doesn't push this issue very hard."

Cheney concluded: "But there's no question but that we're weaker than we were when Barack Obama took office. And if he has four more years, we may well be unrecognizable."

An Associated Press fact check last week determined that President Obama never apologized for the United States or expressed sympathy for the people who attacked the U.S. embassy in Libya.

"The claim that Obama repeatedly has apologized for the United States is not borne out by the facts, especially if his full quotes are viewed in context," Washington Post fact checkers wrote in 2011. "Note to GOP speechwriters and campaign ad makers: The apology tour never happened."

As for the claim that Obama "abandoned" Czechoslovakia, that country was dissolved in 1992 -- over 16 years before he took office.

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The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney is calling on presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to not release more than the two years of tax returns that he has made public -- even though her father released 10 years worth when he was on the GOP ticket in 2000.

"You've got a situation now where it looks like the president's opposition researchers have run out of material to use a distraction from the returns that have already been released," Liz Cheney told Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday. "There will never be enough [for the Obama campaign], no matter how many years of returns the governor releases."

"So, what, Romney should just say, no?" Wallace wondered.

"I think he's good where's he is, frankly," Liz Cheney insisted. "And I think the Obama administration focus on this is because they don't want to have to talk about the economy, they don't want to have to talk about the fact that the president doesn't believe that if you've got a small business or any kind of business, you've built it yourself."

"They don't want the American people to actually look at his failed record and his failed policy."

Two months before the 2000 election, Dick Cheney released 10 years of tax returns, from 1989 to 1999.

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The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday suggested that President Barack Obama had personally authorized recent intelligence leaks.

On Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder appointed two U.S. attorneys to investigate leaks about details of drone attacks and special forces strikes. Critics have claimed that the White House disclosed the information to bolster the president's re-election chances.

"The notion that my White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive," Obama told reporters during Friday press conference. "And people I think need to have a better sense of how I approach this office and how the people around me here approach this office."

But Liz Cheney on Sunday insisted that the president himself could be the one behind the leaks.

"I'd like to see an independent investigation," she told Fox News host Chris Wallace. "If you've got members of the national security team -- which is what we know from reading [New York Times reporter] David Sanger's piece, that's what he says -- giving him chapter and verse of what went on in these National Security Council meetings then somebody's got to be held accountable for, you know, what is a betrayal to the nation."

"I do think that it's important -- as Mike Rogers, chairman of the House intel committee, has said -- that whoever is looking at this needs to be outside the chain of command so that you can be absolutely sure that it is followed to it's conclusion," she added. "And that may well be the president of the United States."

"If the president of the United States has been authorizing people on his national security team to brief The New York Times about one of our most highly classified programs, the American people have a right to know."

Former Vice President Dick Cheney's then-chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators in the probe of who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. The vice president pushed for a full pardon and then-President George W. Bush eventually commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence before he ever served a day in jail.

Many have assumed that Dick Cheney masterminded outing Plame to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, because he had cast doubt on the Bush administration's rationale for war with Iraq. But the the vice president told prosecutors that "I don't recall" telling Libby about Plame's identity.

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The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday refused to deny that she was planning a run for Senate in Wyoming.

Politico noted last week that Liz Cheney had been setting the stage for a possible Senate run by increasing her visibility and speaking at six events in Wyoming this year alone.

"This is planting seeds of thought in people’s minds," Shawn Whitman, a former chief of staff for two Wyoming senators, told Politico. “There’s nobody I know that goes to those events unless they have a position in the party or they’re trying to run for office.”

Liz Cheney declined to speak to Politico, but she couldn't avoid the question from Chris Wallace on Sunday while appearing on Fox News.

"I love Wyoming," she explained. "Wyoming is my home. And what I have been hearing from people all across Wyoming is how important it is that we defeat Barack Obama in 2012. And they're very afraid about -- you ask people in Wyoming, 'Are you better off now than you were $5 trillion ago?' They'll say, absolutely not."

"There was a report yesterday that you're traveling around the state, and that you're thinking of running for Senate from Wyoming in 2014," Wallace pressed.

"Look, I have been honored to have been asked to help support the Republican Party in Wyoming," Cheney replied. "As I said, it's my home. It's a very special place, but I'm really focused on defeating Barack Obama. We don't have the luxury, frankly, of looking beyond this election because this election is so important."

"And let me tell you, folks: to be continued," Wallace concluded.

Charles Mahtesian, Politico’s national politics editor, pointed out that "[f]or a nation forged by revolution against a hereditary monarchy, America has always had an unusual tolerance for -- or even embrace of -- political dynasty."

"At the moment, there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 members of Congress whose parents also served in Congress, or have a sibling or cousin in Congress, or who succeeded to their husband's seat," Mahtesian wrote. "And there's more waiting in the wings: Seven sons of congressmen are currently seeking election to the House."

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And the war on women's reproductive rights continues over at Fox. As our friends at News Hounds noted-- apparently undeterred by being made a mockery of by Jon Stewart-- Fox News brought back Father Jonathan Morris to double down on his suggestion that clergy should be “ready to die” to fight President Obama’s mandate that health insurers cover birth control.

Father Jonathan Morris Doubles Down On His Pledge To Die In Pro-Life Opposition To Contraception Coverage:

Despite being ridiculed by Jon Stewart for making the jaw-dropping suggestion that clergy should be “ready to die” to fight President Obama’s mandate that health insurers cover birth control, Father Jonathan Morris doubled down on his “pledge” last night on Hannity. “Of course I’m willing to die, of course I’m willing to go to jail, of course I’m willing to pay a fine. That is the most normal, non-radical thing I can think of,” Morris said fervently. I don’t know how the other guest, a rabbi in support of the mandate, didn’t burst out laughing at such ridiculous theatrics. A priest threatening to die in the name of pro-life opposition to contraception coverage in health insurance? Come on! In reality, the mandate wouldn’t even affect Morris’ own church. [...]

But Morris wasn’t done with his over-the-top rhetoric. He compared President Obama’s accommodation - having health insurers pay for the coverage - to murder. “We recognize it goes against my conscience to kill. The president is saying, 'You know what? Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to kill that person any more. We’re going to just make sure you pay somebody else to do the bidding for you, to kill that person for you.' That’s an analogy but that’s exactly what it is.”

Full transcript below the fold.

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Here we go again with more projection from Liz Cheney. When asked about President Obama's speech in Kansas last week in which he talked about the Republicans being the party who are just looking out for the rich, the viewers of Fox News Sunday were treated by Cheney to political analysis that was about as ridiculous as when she claimed President Obama wanted to trash the economy on purpose for political benefit, as though a bad economy would somehow help his chances of being re-elected.

This week, it was more harping about regulations and the health care law somehow destroying our economy, lying that the stimulus bill didn't do any good to turn things around and pushing to have our social safety nets destroyed in the name of “entitlement reform”. And last but not least, claiming that President Obama is going to "lose" the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because he's been pulling our troops out of there.

CHENEY: And I also want to point out that he's gotten a pass in many ways on national security and foreign policy. He right now as Commander in Chief is performing abysmally in regard to Afghanistan and Iraq. He's about to snatch defeat from victory in Iraq by pulling everybody out and not being able to accomplish even strategic agreement for long term relationships.

WALLACE: What about his comments in the press conference where he said ask, because there was all this stuff about him being an appeaser, and in the White House press conference he said, “Ask Osama bin Laden if I'm an appeaser?”

CHENEY: Right, he wants to talk about bin Laden. It's terrific that he got bin Laden. We all give him credit for that. But Iraq and Afghanistan are two place where this President is absolutely failing and in Afghanistan, he's pulling our troops out so fast that he's putting the mission at risk. We've got these two wars that have been incredibly important and in which we have sacrificed tremendous lives and treasure. This President's performance means we very well may lose both wars. And the only reason that that's not getting covered is because his performance on the economy is so abysmal.

Juan Williams gave some weak tea response, but he's correct that the American people are tired of having our troops there after ten long years and don't agree with neocons like Cheney and the biggest drag on Obama's poll numbers are due to the economy. Naturally, no one called Cheney out for the fact that there wouldn't be any wars invasions/occupations to "lose" if her father and George W. Bush had not lied to the American public to take us into those countries in the first place.