CBS This Morning’s Major Garrett on Wednesday shocked his fellow journalists as he rejected the evolving liberal media narrative that Liz Cheney is the most important story on the planet. Garrett mocked this idea as the equivalent of caring about the third string quarterback on a JV high school football team. Now, he also used hyperbolic language, insisting that Cheney is “being stoned or burned at the stake.” But at least the CBS journalist underlined the obvious point: This story is a media creation.
Asked by co-host Anthony Mason how important the vote is to remove her from GOP leadership, Garrett responded, “For everyday Americans, it is not significant.” He then unloaded:
I mean, we're talking about the number-three leader in the House Republicans which is the minority party in the House. Now, this is no aspersions against the Republicans, but that's like the third-string quarterback on the JV high school football team.
Cheney will soon start a media tour blitz. But Garrett’s point is correct. He underlined why it doesn’t matter:
You don't have any power in the House of Representatives, and we're talking about the number-three leader. For Americans trying to figure out whether they should buy a gallon of gas or worried about inflation, this does not affect their life.
But then, Garrett gave in to hyperbolic language, declaring the loss of a leadership position to being “burned at the stake.”
Liz Cheney in that speech and her overall remarks in the last three weeks is laying down a marker. The marker is this: “Either you believe in the Constitution, federalism, the way we conduct our elections, and that this election is actually over, or you don't. And if you don't believe that, you're going to vote me out of office.” In a kind of a medieval ritual like she's being stoned or burned at the stake. She wants to be.
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A transcript of the segment is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
5/12/2021
7:11:22 to 7:15:43
ANTHONY MASON: This morning, House Republicans plan to remove Congresswoman Liz Cheney from her leadership position for opposing former President Trump. Cheney has been at odds with GOP members since voting to impeach Mr. Trump in January. On the House floor last night, she said Republicans who support phony claims of a stolen election are a threat to democracy.
LIZ CHENEY: I am a conservative Republican, and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law. The election is over. That is the rule of law. That is our constitutional process. Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution. This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans. Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former President's crusade to undermine our democracy.
MASON: Chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett joins us now. Major, good morning.
Good morning. How significant is this vote?GARRETT: Let me give you a two-part answer. For everyday Americans it is not significant, Anthony. I mean, we're talking about the number-three leader in the House Republicans which is the minority party in the House. Now, this is no aspersions against the Republicans, but that's like the third-string quarterback on the JV high school football team. You don't have any power in the House of Representatives, and we're talking about the number-three leader. For Americans trying to figure out whether they should buy a gallon of gas or worried about inflation, this does not affect their life.
Symbolically it is massively important. Why? Because Liz Cheney in that speech and her overall remarks in the last three weeks is laying down a marker. The marker is this: “Either you believe in the Constitution, federalism, the way we conduct our elections, and that this election is actually over, or you don't. And if you don't believe that, you're going to vote me out of office.” In a kind of a medieval ritual like she's being stoned or burned at the stake. She wants to be, she wants to see this moment for the Republican Party for what she says it is — a dividing line between truth and fiction.
MASON: So what does it mean for the party symbolically going forward then, Major?
It depends. Liz Cheney's long-term bet is all of this stuff that former President Trump says about the election will over time fade away and become less toxic and less poisonous to the rank and file ranks of the House Republican conference. That's her long-term bet. She's going to lose that today. But she believes once that washes through the party and former President Trump is no longer as relevant as he is now, she can rise up and the anti-Trump faction can rise up. That's a very long-term bet. Right now she's going to lose it because everyone in the House Republican congress who today votes her out will be voting with Donald Trump, and by proxy, with the big lie.
KING: I hear you, Major. But it's a secret ballot. So I still am trying to wrap my brain around the fact that she is probably going to be ousted for telling the truth. Something all these guys probably tell their children -- tell the truth.
GARRETT: Yep.
KING: Is it unrealistic or niave to think that because it is a secret ballot that maybe, just maybe she could pull it out today?
GARRETT: I think it's highly, highly unlikely. There's nothing that her people who work closely with her are anticipating other than being driven out of office. Her overall attitude about this is this is going to happen, but I want everyone to see it as it happens, sort of a slow-motion marker for the Republican Party. And this is an interesting dynamic, Gayle. Because I was here in Washington covering Newt Gingrich back in the early '90s. He was the most powerful Republican in 1994 when he brought House Republicans to their first majority in 40 years. It was inconceivable that only four years later his own House Republicans would throw him out of the speakership. But they did. Why? Because he became a problem in their home districts. They were tired of explaining newt Gingrich. Pro-Trump House Republicans want to say we got rid of this person who disagrees with trump, and that's how I prove my solidity to you, Trump Republicans. That's where the party is right now. Liz Cheney will be the first and most conspicuous victim of that particular political mania.
