PBS News Hour host Geoff Bennett and New York Times columnist David Brooks desperately tried to spin the news that former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Rep. Liz Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris as some profound, potentially game-changing moment in the campaign.

Bennett hyped the elder Cheney’s credentials, “So, Dick Cheney, stalwart conservative, no one can accuse him of being a RINO, Republican in name only. He served, I think, four Republican presidents, if memory serves me correctly. What do you see as the significance of their dual support for Kamala Harris?”

After joking that perhaps Cheney will become a hippy, Brooks declared, “For a lot of Republicans, character comes before policy and I think the Cheneys are among those Republicans and there were a lot of Bush Republicans for whom that was just an article of faith.”

Brooks then suggested that the Cheneys and people like them could willingly associate with the Democratic Party because it hasn’t been taken over by extremists:

The other interesting thing is about how interesting a decade the 2010s was, when the Republicans had a total hostile takeover from outsiders, Trump and MAGA. And so it left all the Bush people I know, like, we can't support this, not all, but 80 percent of the Bush people. And President Bush and Dick Cheney are among them. The Democrats had an attempted hostile takeover from Bernie Sanders, but it didn't take. And so they're a party that's still unified, and the MAGA is a party that's left behind a lot of people like Dick Cheney, and a lot — not only Dick Cheneys, but suburban Republicans who voted for Bush and Cheney.

The Democratic Party claims to be the party of women, but can’t even bring themselves to say men can’t get pregnant. They can’t even talk about the Middle East without worrying about offending anti-Semitic college students.

As it was, Bennett later asked, “Does the support from the Cheneys make it harder for a George W. Bush to stay on the sidelines, or does it make it harder for a Chris Christie, a Chris Sununu, or a Bill Barr, for that matter, to say that Kamala Harris is worse?”

After claiming “Bush seems to be the happiest guy on Earth on the sidelines,” Brooks claimed, “a lot of people are like, I can't vote for these people. I can't vote for either of these people. Cheney gives a little permission structure to people, okay, I'm not just going to sit it out. I'm going to vote for Kamala Harris. I need to step up and save our republic from this. And so I think it will help with a certain segment on that point.”

Every election cycle, some Republicans support the Democrat and vice versa. A Kennedy and a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate have endorsed Trump, and the Teamsters’ boss spoke at the RNC, but PBS only focuses on Republicans for Harris because she is their preferred candidate.

Here is a transcript for the September 6 show:

PBS News Hour

9/6/2024

7:31 PM ET

GEOFF BENNETT: So, Dick Cheney, stalwart conservative, no one can accuse him of being a RINO, Republican in name only. He served, I think, four Republican presidents, if memory serves me correctly. What do you see as the significance of their dual support for Kamala Harris?

DAVID BROOKS: Who knows. Maybe he's swinging left. He's going to move to Park Slope. He's going to become a hippie. No.

BENNETT: That, I'd like to see.

BROOKS: For a lot of Republicans, character comes before policy and I think the Cheneys are among those Republicans and there were a lot of Bush Republicans for whom that was just an article of faith. The other interesting thing is about how interesting a decade the 2010s was, when the Republicans had a total hostile takeover from outsiders, Trump and MAGA.

And so it left all the Bush people I know, like, we can't support this, not all, but 80 percent of the Bush people. And President Bush and Dick Cheney are among them. The Democrats had an attempted hostile takeover from Bernie Sanders, but it didn't take. And so they're a party that's still unified, and the MAGA is a party that's left behind a lot of people like Dick Cheney, and a lot — not only Dick Cheneys, but suburban Republicans who voted for Bush and Cheney.

…

BENNETT: Does the support from the Cheneys make it harder for a George W. Bush to stay on the sidelines, or does it make it harder for a Chris Christie, a Chris Sununu, or a Bill Barr, for that matter, to say that Kamala Harris is worse?

BROOKS: No. Bush doesn't — he loves it on the sidelines. Bush seems to be the happiest guy on Earth on the sidelines.

I think I'd just emphasize something Kimberly said, which is a lot of people are like, I can't vote for these people. I can't vote for either of these people. Cheney gives a little permission structure to people, okay, I'm not just going to sit it out. I'm going to vote for Kamala Harris. I need to step up and save our republic from this. And so I think it will help with a certain segment on that point.