I intended to do a more detailed dissection of last night’s debate, but there are so many others that have done it better, that I’ll link to a few of them below.
However, there’s one question I have: when did Mary Cheney’s lesbianism become a legitimate talking point for the Democrat ticket? During the last two debates, both Senators Kerry and Edwards have invoked the name of Vice President Cheney’s daughter while making whatever point they were trying to make regarding homosexuality and/or same-sex marriage. Why? Last time I checked, Ms. Cheney isn’t running for office and even if she were and since she’s up front about her preference, what would it matter?
Maybe Ms. Cheney’s existence in her family seems like some sort of totem of hypocrisy to the Democrat ticket; her father is a conservative Republican and many conservative Republicans are also devout Christians. Perhaps the senators are stupidly calculating that this will cause those Republicans to think twice about voting for the Republican ticket, as if no Christian has ever had to accept the existence of a homosexual family member.
So, assuming that Vice President Cheney and his wife, Lynne, are Christians, what would the senators have had the couple do upon the discovery that their daughter was a lesbian? Pretend as though she were straight? Deny her? Disown her? Denounce her and her lifestyle to the rooftops? One can only imagine what the senators would be saying had the Cheneys done any of the above. Then we’d be hearing about the Cheneys' lack of Christian love and charity for their own flesh and blood.
Lynne Cheney has had enough of the senators.
"The only thing I can conclude is he [Kerry] is not a good man. I'm speaking as a mom," she said. "What a cheap and tawdry political trick."
Like any good mother, she will do her best to protect her children. And you’d think that the Kerry-Edwards campaign would advise the two and their spouses to clam up over the incident, what with all the bad press that Senator Kerry is getting for mentioning Mary Cheney. But, true to form, the campaign makes yet another misstep. Guess they didn’t get to Senator Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, in time.
"She's [Lynne Cheney] 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."
What a bag. No, Mrs. Edwards, it isn’t shameful to have a discussion on homosexuality. What is shameful is that you, your husband and his buddy would act as if a personal matter of an individual and of her family were a legitimate discussion point for any of the debates. What’s also shameful is that you would publicly stick your nose into their business. And, what’s sad (though it doesn’t make me sad) is that your husband’s party would claim to be the defenders of “minority” rights and the right to privacy. So now we can assume that the privacy rights of a Republican office-holder's family member are the exception and are, therefore, fair game. Thanks for letting us in on it.
(Thanks to Steve and one of his commenters)
