« State by State Breakdown | Main | "What Went Wrong?" »
October 15, 2004
The Mary Cheney flap
As everyone who is not living in a cave knows by now, during the last debate John Kerry said the following
We're all God's children, Bob. And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as.
The question, it will be recalled, was "Do you believe homosexuality is a choice? If Kerry had to mention anyone to make his point, of all the gays in America, why did he have to choose Mary Cheney?
The Cheney's are furious. Yesterday, the Vice-President had this to say
Vice President Dick Cheney, a self-described "angry father," yesterday denounced Sen. John Kerry for bringing up his homosexual daughter during a debate with President Bush, calling the Democratic candidate "a man who will do and say anything to get elected."Lynn Cheney also has had some choice words to say about the incident, as quoted in my take on the last debate (which I know you read!)."I am not just speaking as a father here, although I am a pretty angry father," the vice president told supporters at a rally in Fort Myers, Fla.
John Kerry seems to have realized that he made a mistake and has gone into damage-control mode
I love my daughters. They love their daughter. I was trying to say something positive about the way strong families deal with this issue
But this will be too little to late. The damage has been done.
Why did He Say It?
One possibility is that Kerry was trying to convince Christian Conservatives not to vote for Bush/Cheney. The idea is "once they know that Cheney's got a gay daughter, they will stay home." In other words, Christian Conservatives are such bigots that they would not vote for someone who has a gay family member.
Another possiblity is that Kerry was pandering to the "gay vote." He is, after all, in a difficult bind. Minority voters are overwhelmingly against gay marriage, and they make up a substantial Democratic party voting bloc. So Kerry can't offend them. But he wanted to go after gay voters, perhaps even siphon some off from the GOP, and saw this as a way to do it.
It seems like it was a planned comment, so it is hard to believe that Kerry said it by accident, making it hard to dismiss as a "gaffe."
So What of It?
This incident reveals a fundamental difference of how the left and right view sexuality in modern America. Gay groups saw Kerry's comment as "entirely appropriate," and Democrats have generally defended their candiatate.
Most Republicans simply want the issue of "gay marriage", and that of homosexuality in general, to go away. "Fine if you are gay, but I don't want to hear about it" has become the response of many Americans. The Cheney's are not "ashamed" of their daugher, as liberals would have us believe. She is, for heaven's sake, heavily involved in their campaign, albeit behind the scenes. What they do object to is her being used to score political points. You do not use the opposing candidate's child period.
To Democrats in general, and hard-core liberals in particular, this will not do. "The private is the public" is their motto. Witness the comments of John Edwards wife Elizabeth
"She's overreacted to this and treated it as if it's shameful to have this discussion. I think that's a very sad state of affairs. ... I think that it indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences. ... It makes me really sad that that's Lynne's response," Mrs. Edwards told ABC News Radio.
Or consider the comments of a "senior Kerry aide" as quoted by Andrew Stuttaford on NRO The Corner
The woman is in her thirties. She's public about her sexuality. It was brought up in the last debate. So, what the hell?
A letter "email of the day"(so he apparently approves) on Andrew Sullivan's web page sums it up well:
The only difference is that Bush & Cheney's base is anti-gay. That's why Mary Cheney's off-limits, not privacy or anything else. If their base were pro-gay, she would have had a prime-time convention speaking slot. But because they're homophobes, Kerry is supposed to shut up and act accordingly.
Read Sullivan's page and it becomes clear that he considers anyone who disagrees with him over any gay-related issue to be a "homophobe" plain and simple. This is why I stopped reading him many months ago. I went back this morning to get his - utterly predicatable - reaction to the Mary Cheney flap.
How will this play out?
If Kerry hoped to alienate Conservative Christians from the GOP he is sadly mistaken, as this will not happen. If anything, they will be more inclined to vote against him because of his obvious attempt to pander to gay voters.
Many middle-of-the road families, otherwise sympathetic to gays and perhaps even to gay marriage, will see it as an affront to the privacy of the family.
It will not gain him many votes among gay voters, as they will probably vote for him anyway.
Posted by Tom at October 15, 2004 9:24 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.theredhunter.com/mt/refer.cgi/171
