What I found amusing about all that is that he didn’t get upset when Edwards commented about her during the veep depates. That and the fact that Cheney didn’t have a rebuttal after the comments.

Well, right on GeekMom. But I don’t think this is going to matter one whit in the election results. If I see a matter where I see less ‘undecided people’ than elsewhere, it’s probably here.

The hypocrisy rolls on.  When the Bush/Cheney camp released their statement of mock outrage I had to laugh because the gay activists were saying something else entirely.

I can understand Mary Cheney’s dismay at having her personal life drawn into a public forum and maybe she should have spoken to her father about that issue before he chose to put it in play.

It definitely wasn’t a dig on the part of Kerry, he had nothing negative to say about Ms. Cheney and she was a person that most Americans should be able to identify with.  The entire thing is just mock outrage on the part of the Bushies to satisfy some deluded thinking on the part of their supporters.

I can understand Mary Cheney’s dismay at having her personal life drawn into a public forum and maybe she should have spoken to her father about that issue before he chose to put it in play.

She’s out of the closet, as the corporate relations manager for Coors she worked to get the gay/lesbian community to drop their boycott and she is now a Republican operative.

Having said that - when Kerry made the statement, my instinctive reaction was that he shouldn’t have named Mary Cheney. In retrospect, I can’t say whether I though it was a cheap shot or a tactical error - maybe some of both. Apparently a lot of people agree. In a Washington Post tracking poll 64% of respondents think that Kerry’s answer was “inappropriate.” (No indication of why.)

I still believe his answer was a mistake. If for no other reason than it gives the jackasses in the echo chamber an extra opportunity to bray. Kerry could have avoided the flap by simply answering the question asked. Or he could have prefaced his answer with “I disagree with (the likes of) Alan Keyes (who)...” (This insightful political advice comes from someone who invariably thinks of the perfect comeback at least 30 seconds after the moment has passed - sometimes much later.

When Cheney was asked about the Defense of Marriage amendment, I seem to remember him mentioning his daughter and her partner, and how, while he completely supported her choice, he had to stand with the president on policy.  When that comment was reported, Cheney was positioned as the “good guy” in the civil liberties debate.  Someone the moderates could respond to.  So now that Kerry is being shrieked at for commenting what’s already been openly acknowledged for some time in the press, I really have to wonder what the Right is really thinking, and why they chose the last few weeks before the election to focus on the “L” word.  Do they think that they can use ‘lesbianism’ as the big last minute rallying call to the Evangelicals?  If it works, we can all delight in an even more divided, angry electorate no matter who wins.

Thanks Carl Rove.  You’ve really served your country well.  Jackass.

I’m having a hard time understanding why any gay person would support “the party most likely to lynch them.” What’s up with that?

And I really don’t care if it’s a “choice” or not.  Probably it is for some people and it is not for others.  So what? 

That said, it WAS a tactical error on Kerry’s part.  Nothing improper about it, and he certainly didn’t seem to be demeaning Mary Cheney, but it was just a bad move.

What’s up with that?

Something like the hostage syndrome? Or the reason abused wives stay in a bad relationship?

When I saw it, I wasn’t bothered by him stating what was already known, but speaking for what she thinks about the subject. I don’t doubt that Mary Cheney probably believes she was born a lesbian, but it is her place to say what she thinks on the subject (and I don’t think she has ever said publically what she believes), not John Kerry’s. When John Edwards mentioned her, he didn’t try to tell people what she believes, John Kerry should have had the same respect.

Valhalla, however she believes she came to be a lesbian, she’s been out out OUT for a while now, and she’s been using her status as a gay American to do outreach for the Republican party and the Coors Co.  How was Kerry “telling her what she believes”?

Certainly a tactical error and darling Dick’s politically expedient outrage is almost too much to stand.  I don’t seem to remember this kind of indignation when that whack Alan Keyes called her a “selfish hedonist.”

I can’t wait until this is all over,one way or the other.

Maryh,

You apparently didn’t read what I wrote. That is not a quote of what I said. I said he was telling everyone else what she would tell them if she was asked.

This insightful political advice comes from someone who invariably thinks of the perfect comeback at least 30 seconds after the moment has passed - sometimes much later.

VernR, the important thing is that you keep it on hand for the NEXT opportunity.

What can I say?  Nobody likes the taste of their own medicine… especially “conservatives”.
Cheney knew what he was doing when he gave his chuffmunching daughter that job - as human shields, it’s hard to beat.

I especially like Dave Cullen’s comments:
What Everybody doesnt know about Mary Cheney

Sorry for the double post...was just thinking about why she is republican and, besides the obvious money and family related arguments, what about that whole political compass thing?  I followed that link yesterday and checked it out...perhaps she’s a righty because she supports the economic policies.  I mean, her family has money and she likely wants to keep that money.  Many people believe that the republicans’ anti-gay platform is just a way to get religious right votes and won’t actually accomplish any legislation.  Hard to believe right now, but it’s an argument I’ve heard before.

Valhalla, I DID read what you wrote, and she chose to use her orientation as a bridge to consumers (for Coors) and voters (for Bush).  If that’s not making public what she ‘believes’, then what is?

Maryh,

You still seem to be missing my entire point. We know she believes she is a lesbian, that is not an issue. You cannot say she believes she was born a lesbian from anything she has said or done publically, so John Kerry has no factual basis from which to devine her thoughts on that.

Wha...?  What difference does it make whether she believes she was ‘born’ a lesbian or came to become one through overexposure to “Prisoner Cell Block H”?  She’s a self identified Big L lesbian now, her career, such as it is, revolves around her orientation, and her dad seems more than okay with that.  How is Kerry ‘divining her thoughts’?  He noted what was in the public record.  I’m curious about why exactly you’re trying to make a distinction between “born” or “made” lesbians, and why you think that’s a political scent worth following.

I make the distinction because of the question John Kerry was asked. Was he asked whether Gay and Lesbian people believe that they were born that way or not? NO, he was asked whether HE believes it is a choice or people are born that way. So what does Mary Cheney have to do with what John Kerry believes. He was asked what he believes, and he replied by trying to say what someone else believes.