Gay-ney

A Commentary on the Vice Presidents Daughter, Mary Cheney

By: Marcus Phillips

 

A question was asked of each candidate in the 2004 presidential election. It was fairly innocuous, and related to the topic of Homosexuality and the possibility of Gay Marriage (Rather relevent in 2004 as the President had intended to amend the Constitution to make a clear statement that Marriage, as defined, was between a Man and Woman).

Bush, respectfully, noted his own personal bias about the subject while upholding his belief that anyone is welcome to live the life they choose to live in America. It is clear that Bush is very strong in his personal belief, but realizes that his duty as the Prez is to be fair to everyone.

Kerry, meanwhile, draws a comparison to Cheney's daughter. Seemingly innocuous, if a bit odd and strained of a statement. However, *I* happened to garner the point; Kerry is for gay rights. Unsurprising from a Democrat.

However, what IS surprising is the aftermath of that particular statement. Directly after the debate, most talking head puppets who lean towards the Republican side of things were outraged that Kerry would make such an exploitive statement, virtually using VP Cheney's daughter as a political tool.

What I find funny is that Cheney himself alluded to his daughter when asked about his own stance on Gay Rights.

In direct relation to what KERRY said, Sean Hannity (a rather popular political pundit) is of the opinion that this is a horrible, atrocious thing to do. Hannity also states that it is exploiting children for political gain. Was Cheney not doing so when he brought his daughter up in relation to a question? Realize Cheney himself could have used any standard or example to convey his stance, but he himself chose to use his own daughter because it would have more political impact on those who heard it.

Meaning that people would think to themselves that Cheney truly has first hand knowledge and can certainly take a stance on the topic without being pegged as playing mere political games with the people. Now Cheney couldn't possibly be wanting to use his family as a political tool, could he?

Yes. I was inferring something. My apologies. That aside, it would seem to me that Cheney himself got the ball rolling on politics including family this election season.

And truly, is it so horrid what Kerry said?

"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." - John Kerry

Of course the question was worded as follows -

"Both of you are opposed to gay marriage. But to understand how you have come to that conclusion, I want to ask you a more basic question. Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?" - Bob Schieffer

So it would seem to my own eyes that the comment Kerry made was, in fact, in direct response to the question asked, citing an example of a known political leader which most American people would recognize. However, I would argue that it was presumptuous of him to assume the familiarity he did with the comment. How it is stated, it would seem that Kerry has a personal relationship with Mary Cheney, which is doubtful but not implausible.

However, the media seems more upset at the mention of her rather than at the familiarity of the tone. From what I have seen thus far, they appear to be attacking the wrong aspect of the comment, as Mary Cheney's father made her "Fair Game" for political maneuvering when he used her to answer an innocent question.

Ahh, politics.