There has been no bigger critic of the idea of launching an investigation into the Bush administration's authorization of torture on terrorist suspects than Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
The foreign policy analyst and cable news personality has scoffed at the idea that an independent counsel would spend time looking into the matter, arguing that it would be crippling to the intelligence community and a waste of time. After all, the harsh interrogation techniques used during the Bush years worked, she says.
Considering how adamantly she's argued this point, it would stand to reason that Cheney would set a high bar with respect to what scandals deserved an investigatory commission. And yet, there she was on Sunday morning, during an appearance on Fox News, demanding that an independent body look into the job offer the Obama White House made to Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Penn.) to get him out of the Pennsylvania Senate race:
"Look, I think there are some things that clearly rise to the level of needing independent investigation. And what you have had happen here, obviously is the White House put out a statement the Friday before Memorial Day announcing Bill Clinton was involved, which I'm sure was really not that reassuring to most Americans. There is not an impeccable record of integrity there on the part of the former president. Secondly, then you have Rahm Emanuel basically have his own lawyer, the White House counsel issue a statement saying 'Hey, this is all fine, we're good to go,' with no analysis whatsoever. Clearly, you need somebody to come in and take a look at exactly what happened."
On Friday, the White House released a memo revealing that they had dispatched former President Bill Clinton to float the idea of Sestak serving on an uncompensated advisory board for the administration, in which he would remain in the House and not run for the Senate. Sestak declined the offer, eventually entered the Senate race, and ultimately beat the incumbent Sen. Arlen Sepcter (D-Penn.). Lawyers -- both Republicans and Democrats -- have since called the whole saga a non-issue. But that didn't satisfy Cheney:
"There is a lot here that just smells funny. If the White House thought what they were doing above board why did they go to Bill Clinton? Why did they need a cut-out for whatever they were doing? i want to know what he offered. I want to know what the president knew. The president said he didn't know. I find it really hard to believe that the chief of staff would go to the former president to get him to try and get somebody out of the race without telling the president. And finally, this is very reminiscent of the campaign finance scandals back in the mid-'90s when they were selling the Lincoln bedroom. So I think the American people have a right to know here. We have Bill Clinton, Rahm Emanuel back engaged in this exactly what happened? Were any laws broken? Was an offer made?"