October 15, 2004
Fair Game or Foul Play?
Okay, Cheney's daughter,
Fair Game or Foul Play?
Let's start where this crap began, with the name drop by John Edwards during the VP debate:
"I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much. And you can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her. It's a wonderful thing,"
If you go back to the tape you'll note that Cheney was ready and willing to rip Edwards' perky little face off if he spoke ill of his daughter or their relationship...and I would have loved to see it. As it stood, he came off as paying Cheney a compliment on his daughter at a rather inopportune moment. For the next 20 minutes or so Cheney had that "what the hell was that about?" look on his face.
Time passes, nothing is mentioned by anyone until the last debate.
Asked about Gay marriage, Kerry evokes Mary Cheney in a move as distasteful as his invocation of his 15 year friend Superman Christopher Reeves (May he be walking somewhere in heaven). Here's the comment:
"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. I think if you talk to anybody, it's not a choice."
At this point I believe it is appropriate to let you know that Mary Cheney has been considered off limits to reporters throughout the same-sex marriage debate. This is not an accident. This is intentional attacking a family and not debating a point. What was he attacking though? John Edwards called their family support and relationship a wonderful thing. Again, this is out of place in a debate and certainly uncalled for. Lynne Cheney, Mary's mother can no longer hold back and fires off this comment:
"Now, you know, I did have a chance to assess John Kerry once more and now the only thing I could conclude: This is not a good man. Of course, I am speaking as a mom, and a pretty indignant mom. This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick."
Even Arizona Sen. John McCain, the person Kerry tried to claim as "on his side" called Kerry's remarks "certainly inappropriate." Now it's time to enter the spin doctors to try and mop things up. One more time, what are they driving at with this? What does the Kerry/Edwards hope to say with this line of off limits commenting? Let's go to Mary Beth Cahill, the queen of spin for the answer:
"She seems to be very proud and open about her sexuality, her parents seem to be very proud of her. It comes up, there are a lot of questions here about gay marriage, and she is someone who is a major figure in the campaign. I think it's fair game and I think she has been treated very respectfully."
It's fair game? It has NEVER been fair game. She is NOT a major figure in the campaign. She is a daughter working with her father's campaign. There is nothing more to it. Her relationship with her family has ALWAYS been strictly OFF LIMITS.
So is this what everything about? They want to call Cheney a hypocrite for supporting Bush while loving his lesbian daughter? I guess if you can't make one legitimate attack on him for Halliburton (Every attack on Cheney for Halliburton has been proven to be groundless including the uncontested Iraq contract.) attack his family. Can you get any more classy? Is this the way we want our president to talk about people? Can they go any lower?
Nicolle Devenish, Bush's Communications Director knows the score. They're trying to clean up a mess.:
"Mary Beth Cahill revealed a campaign strategy last night to Chris Wallace, that Mary Cheney is fair game. Kerry's new statement is complete double-speak. He's just trying to clean up a mess."
Unfortunately, this was not the end, nothing got cleaned up; it gets dirtier. Elizabeth Edwards talks about the elephant in the middle of the DNC's room in her comments about Lynn Cheney's remarks:
"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"
There you have it, the Democratic party has called Cheney ashamed of her daughter. This is dirty pool. There is no justification for this. They can't even show respect for a diverse family. Really nice campaign strategy. It really calls America to your softer side John. Of course, what do you expect from a couple of lawyers, kindness? The presidency is not a trial and I am not a part of your jury.
All quotes derived from this FOXNews article.