There is a good argument to be made that not dealing with a child strictly, that is, ensuring that the child experiences the full consequences of destructive personal choices, is "turning one's back" on the child. Especially in the case of an adult child, such coddling and enabling is a deadly strategy.
Loving a child while ensuring that the child has the fullest opportunity to learn from and overcome poor choices is the toughest task a parent faces. I don't know the full particulars of either the Cheney or the Keyes families' struggles. I do know enough from my own experience that to say that how Alan Keyes is apparently handling this issue is not necessarily inconsistent with the way a wise parent who loves a child will deal with such an issue.
I have no use for coddlers and enablers, especially of adult children. None. In a very real sense they murder their own children, if only slowly.
What an assinine thing to say.