Top McCarthy aide fires back at Liz Cheney over insulting comments — and uses her father's own famous words

An aide for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy fired back at Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) Wednesday after she took a shot at McCarthy.

What did Cheney say?

Speaking on NBC's "Today" show following her landslide loss in the Wyoming Republican primary, Cheney asserted that McCarthy is noth worthy to be a leader in the Republican Party.

"Kevin McCarthy made his decision a few weeks after Jan. 6, knowing what he knew about Donald Trump's role in the assault on the Capitol, [and] when he went to Mar-a-Lago and said we're going to welcome him back into the party. To me, that is indefensible," Cheney said on Wednesday.

"This is a great, a special, exceptional nation, and we need leaders who have reverence for our Constitution, who are faithful to our Constitution, and who are gonna do what's required to abide by our oath no matter whether or not it's politically convenient," she added. "Kevin McCarthy does not fit that bill."

What was the response?

A top McCarthy aide fired back at Cheney by using the words of her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney.

In response, the aide pointed to an "ironic quote from her dad," comments that he made on the campaign trail in 1976 as then-President Gerald Ford's campaign manager, Fox News reported.

"Principle is OK up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose," Dick Cheney said at the time.

The message is clear. McCarthy's aide was referring to Cheney's insistence that her fierce opposition to former President Donald Trump and his narrative about the 2020 presidential election is all about principle and standing up for the Constitution. But, so the charge goes, what does it matter if you no longer have a platform on which to stand?

Cheney, for her part, has said repeatedly that she was willing to pay the price for standing on her principles.

Anything else?

McCarthy essentially predicted Cheney's primary loss, telling Fox News the result of the Wyoming GOP primary could be seen as a "referendum" on the House committee investigating Jan. 6.

Cheney is the ranking member of that committee, playing a prominent role in the congressional investigation into Trump.