Lynne Cheney Responds to Kerry's Remarks After Debate, ('Tawdry...trick)

[Rose Siding]

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa., Oct. 13 -- Lynne V. Cheney, wife of Vice President Cheney, accused John F. Kerry Wednesday night of "a cheap and tawdry political trick" and said he "is not a good man" after he brought up their daughter's homosexuality at the final presidential debate.

Mary Cheney, one of the vice president's two daughters and an official of the Bush-Cheney campaign, has been open about her lesbian status. The candidates were asked if they believe homosexuality is a choice, and Bush did not mention Mary Cheney. Then Kerry said, "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."

Lynne Cheney, an outspoken conservative who once headed the National Endowment for the Humanities, issued her post-debate remark to a cheering crowd outside Pittsburgh. "The only thing I can conclude is he is not a good man. I'm speaking as a mom," she said. "What a cheap and tawdry political trick."

Steven Fisher, communications director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian political organization, said Kerry "was speaking to millions of American families who, like the Cheneys, have gay friends and family members."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31310-2004Oct13.html

[Katherine2]

1. How interesting

that someone who made a joke about John Kerry's face at a political rally would call anything cheap and tawdry. The Cheneys seems to take such offense at mentions of their daughter being gay that you'd think they were ashamed of her or something. Gee.

[bemildred]

3. They got nothing else left. nt

[Dover]

54. Edwards did the same thing in his debate with Cheney.

Saturday Night Live did a skit on that debate and concentrated on that point...showing Edwards hammering away on the gay/lesbian issue with opportunistic empathy, while Cheney sneered at each mention of his daughter.

[sonicx]

2. political trick?

so she's not really gay?

[kskiska]

4. Lynne actually denied her daughter was gay

in an interview maybe 3 years ago.

[K8-EEE]

5. Cheap And Tawdry? No, That's Her NOVEL...

"Sisters!"

[MADem]

18. I have been told

...that the novel features the L word. I guess it is only cheap and tawdry when you aren't making money off it.

[Bridget Burke]

40. "Sisters" is not cheap: used copies are $500 at Amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0451112040/ref=dp_item-information_0/104-7020771-7149527?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=283155&v=glance

The novel of a strong and beautiful woman who broke all the rules of the American frontier...

Sophie Dymond had overcome nineteenth-century prejudices to succeed as publisher of a hugely popular women's magazine. But when she left New York to revisit her native Wyoming, where her sister had died mysteriously, she left her prestige and power far behind. Waiting for Sophie was a world where women were treated either as decorative figurines or as abject sexual vassals...where wives were led to despise the marriage act and prostitutes pandered to husbands' hungers...where the relationship between women and men became a kind of guerilla warfare in which women were forced to band together for the strength they needed and at times for the love they wanted. In her effort to grasp the meaning of her sister's life and death, Sophie discovers the secret that tainted her life and begins to understand the experience of the vast majority of silent, trapped women.

[Stephanie]

47. Excerpts from Sapphic Novelist Lynne Cheney's Book, "Sisters" >>>

http://www.whitehouse.org/administration/sisters.asp

[drscm]

6. I feel sorry for Mary. Lynne has no capacity to love anyone but Lynne,

She is not a good mother.

[sonicx]

7. another thing...

Kerry wants to give gays rights, bush wants to take them away...and kerry's the bad guy?

[Steelangel]

8. Indeed. Go figure.

freepers are very strange creatures.

[Eye and Monkey]

9. Seems like Dick thanked Edwards for kind words, last time it came up

Very similar kinda remarks, if I remember. So, who's pulling the cheap and tawdry, Lynne?

[ArnoldLayne]

10. Lynne Cheney is an asshole

Kerry did nothing wrong in bringing it up since Mary Cheney is open about it and she is campaigning for Bush who pushes anti-gay policies.

[robcon]

57. We have to be honest on this

Edwards and Kerry pandered to the homophobes who support Bush. That's an awful, unconscionable thing to do, IMO. Pandering to bias is very low politics.

It's like pandering to racists.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

61. Bull fucking shit

Kerry put a human face on the situation. People respect that.
And he pointed out how they are hypocrites without saying so.

[ladybugg33]

11. Kerry should apologize for a remark that was not intended to hurt anyone

and was a poor choice of words for the point that he was trying to make and THEN MOVE ON!! If the Republicans want to make an issue of this comment, they and the media will be the ones constantly reminding the public the Cheney's daughter is gay. Kerry should not belabor the remark.

[ladybugg33]

13. Another thought on this.

Remember, the Republicans are the ones who claim that homosexuality is a "choice." To keep this constantly before the public means that Cheney's daughter made the choice to be gay and raises all kinds of questions about the parenting she received in a good ole, patriotic, Republican, conservative, Christian home. (Now I don't agree with their view but I am just saying this is the delimma facing the Republicans if they want to make this a big issue.) The hypocrites can't have it both ways.

[sonicx]

14. apologize?

"i'm sorry your daughter's gay" :eyes:

[MADem]

19. Aplogize, for WHAT?

He said nothing that was not true. Mary Cheney lives with her partner and she is out. The only reason it might be a problem for Bush is if some of his idiot supporters have had their heads in the sand and would not vote for him because of his VP's daughter. How pathetic of them to rail like this, when what they are really railing about is that they didn't want to mention any inconvenient facts that might demoralize the religious right.

The question was about gay issues, and so was Kerry's answer (unlike Bush, who answered a question about jobs with BS about schools). GOP really does have nothing if they are gonna do a whining foot stomp over nothing.

[A Simple Game]

58. If he were to apologize

it could only be for pointing out the hypocrisy of the republican administration's stance on homosexuality!

Funny I noticed almost all of *'s answers somehow ended up with his education policy that will solve all!

[goforit]

12. She's insulting her own daughter........and is very defensive about it.

Hmmmmmm..........

Do you think she doesn't approve of her own daughter????

[Ediacara]

15. Hmm... I wonder what MARY has to say about all this?

Cause ya know what, speaking as a gay child, I know that MOM doesn't always know what's best, and that MOM often tries to make people forget she has a gay child because MOM'S ASHAMED.

ON EDIT: I should add that my mom, despite all the troubles she has I listed above, is perfectly loving, caring and supportive, as I'm sure Dick and Lynne are. The trouble is that Dick's, Lynne's, and my mother's overriding instinct has always been, is now, and forever shall be, "OH NO! WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS THINK!?"

[Lugnut]

16. Lynne Cheney

Seems to be embarrassed of her daughter.

[pinniped]

17. Being on the campaign trail with the monster is...

taking its toll.

[Dark Jedi]

20. Lynne Cheney Sounds like a Whiner!

It is not tawdry if it is a part of one's campaign platform, and in Kerry/Edwards' case, it is! K/E brought it up to show that they are not obsessed with trying to ban gay marriage. It had to be mentioned to set themselves apart from the fundies of the Bush base. I don't see anything wrong with it.

[truthisfreedom]

21. Lynne, ask your daughter before you go shooting your mouth off over

nothing. ALL OF AMERICA knows about your daughter. who cares. Kerry was making a point... and unlike bush, he was actually ANSWERING THE QUESTION.

[gauguin57]

22. Yeah ... hey ... who's gonna bring up (for the fundies' benefit)

-- so the public can hear it -- that Lynne Cheney wrote a lesbian soft-core porn novel!!!???

You think that'll sit well with those fundies?

[Sleepless In NY]

24. Tell Lynne to go after Alan Keyes then

Alan Keyes could have kept quiet about Mary Cheney, but chose not too. And Unlike Kerry, Keyes was anything but positive in his remarks about Mary, he was downright viscious. Incredibly ironic, since Keyes's daughter is also a lesbian. A Typical Republican Hypocrite.

And you know what? So is Lynne. Her daughter is a lesbian, so what? What's so offensive? The only ones offended are the right wingers, like Lynne, who find it "shameful" and dont want it mentioned.


Mary participates in this campaign and so does Ted Kennedy. But it's ok to bring up Kennedy's name anytime cheney/bush feel like it.

I'm offended by bush's constant reference to Massachusetts, like coming from that state makes you unamerican. Plenty of men & women serving in Iraq, that come from Massachusetts.

Bush sucked tonite and this baloney about Mary Cheney is all they've got to go after Kerry?? Beats having to defend bush's abysmal record.

You're offended Lynne? Good. Now go after Alan Keyes.

[beaconess]

53. If they showed as much anger toward Republicans who trash their daughter

as they do attacking Democrats who have the temerity to question their integrity, they might actually earn some respect.

Lynne Cheney attacking Kerry, saying "this is not a good man" because he referred to their gay daughter (in a very loving, thoughtful way), is hilarious given her complete silence when Alan Keyes called the same daughter "a selfish hedonist."

But Lynnie's just following family tradition of allowing their daughter to be smeared as long as the smearing is done by Republicans. After all, having his integrity questioned was enough to cause her husband to blow a gasket and curse out Pat Leahy on the floor of the U.S. Senate, yet he has shown amazing restraint when it comes to attacks on his own child - he hasn't uttered a peep, much less worked up any righteous indignation, as members of his own party characterize his daughter and all other gay people as immoral villains second only to Al Quaeda in the threat they pose to America.

So much for the Cheney family values.

[Days Between]

23. As if your husband was never involved

in tawdry political tricks... how was it a 'trick', anyway? I suppose the SBVT aren't a trick, nor is Faux news, nor was the 2000 s-election, nor is the money you receive from Haliburton's blood contracts... all that and plenty more is just good ol' truthful, integrity filled politics... the repukeagains are so f'ing hypocritical that the very word doesn't hold up for them. Its not strong enough.

Agreed, ashamed of her daughter. Thing is that freepers will feel for her awkward position, because they think gays are deathly leprous sinners.

[Judi Lynn]

25. War profiteers are the very embodiment of grace on earth, aren't they?

I can really see why Mrs. War Profiteer finds room to get bent out of shape over anything anyone would say. God, let's not offend her delicate sensibilities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gays blast Lynne Cheney's denial about her daughter

Friends say Mary Cheney has publicly declared she's gay. Does mom's discomfort mean Mary will campaign from the GOP's closet?

By Dave Cullen and Daryl Lindsey
- - - - - - - - - -


August 01, 2000 | DENVER -- Lynne Cheney's discomfort with the media's interest in her lesbian daughter Mary, televised nationally over the weekend, threatens to ignite the first firestorm of the so-far superbly scripted Republican convention.

On Sunday, when ABC's Cokie Roberts started to ask the GOP vice presidential nominee's wife about having a daughter who has "declared she's openly gay," an irate Lynne Cheney shot back: "Mary has never declared such a thing." Cheney then blasted the media for its interest in the story, and chided Roberts: "I'm surprised, Cokie, that even you would want to bring it up on this program."


"I have two wonderful daughters. I love them very much. They are bright; they are hard-working; they are decent. And I simply am not going to talk about their personal lives," Cheney told Roberts.

Nationally, many gay leaders were alarmed by Lynne Cheney's remarks. The distaste implied by her use of the term "such a thing" to describe her daughter Mary's sexuality didn't come across as ringing acceptance. And some see it as an attempt to force Mary Cheney -- who has in fact publicly "declared" herself a lesbian, and has worked as the gay and lesbian corporate relations manager for Coors Brewing Co. -- back into the closet, at least on the campaign trail.

The controversy could bubble over this week, since friends of Mary Cheney say she's planning to bring her life partner, the woman she shares a house with in Conifer, Colo., to the Republican convention. She has reportedly postponed plans to attend business school this fall in order to campaign with her father, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.

Gay leaders wasted no time blasting Lynne Cheney's remarks to Roberts. "They were horrible," said Human Rights Campaign spokesman David Smith. "She said she is proud of both her daughters, but there was definitely a sense this was one aspect of who her daughter is that she was not proud of. That came through loud and clear."
(snip/...)

http://dir.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/08/01/mary/index.html

(This entire article is accessible.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If this article was written in August, 2000, she should be familiar with the idea the public knows her daughter is gay by now.

[sr_pacifica]

26. It's obvious Lynne Cheney is ashamed of her daughter n/t

[Kenergy]

27. Lynne is pathetic n/t

[killbotfactory]

28. Clinton made Mary Cheney gay!!!!!!!!!

Damn that Clinton!

[dave123williams]

29. Well, the Thugs certainly can't claim to be pro-gay. They'd look even...

...more stupid than they already do.

[Piperay]

30. WTF ...

everbody knows she is gay so why blame Kerry for mentioning it. Only in the repug delusional mind is it a secret. :crazy:

[Swamp Rat]

31. Time to come out of the closet and join your daughter Lynne!

It is truely eating away at her insides, otherwise she wouldn't be so upset.

C'mon Lynne! We know you're gay too. Your book gave it away.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

32. I, John Kerry, apologize for caring about Mrs. Cheney's daughter's rights

more than she does.

I'm John Kerry and I approve of this message.

[Mad_Dem_X]

59. That's right - he wasn't *insulting* her!

He was just using her as an example. Lynne is an uptight b****.

[DoYouEverWonder]

33. If Lynn & Dick weren't ashamed of their daughter's sexuality

why didn't they let her join them on the stage at the RNC?

[KayLaw]

34. I agree with this Fisher guy

She is very openly gay and the issue was discussed at the VP debate. I think Kerry was putting a human face to the gay issue. If he had outed her, Lynne Cheney's remarks would have been aprropriate, but that's not the cast at all. There was no trick, tawdry or otherwise.

[area51]

35. Cheap & tawdry?

Lynne, you mean like the cheap & tawdry dirty politics that your party used to defeat veteran Max Cleland, likening him to Osama bin Forgotten? Or like the cheap & tawdry shot that your party's spokescum, Rusty Limpballs, used when he called Chelsea Clinton a dog?

[hyphenate]

36. Too bad, Lynne

All is fair in politics and war. And the comments your sicko dickhead husband has made about Kerry makes you and yours fair game. Besides, Kerry didn't say ANYTHING nasty--he was pointing out a fact. It isn't that you're EMBARRASSED or something about your daughter, is it? No, we can't have embarrassment in a conservative family.

Funny, isn't it? That some of the most outspoken denigrators of a gay lifestyle just happen to have a gay member in their own family? If they loved that family member, they would know the truth about homosexuality.

[Francine Frensky]

37. Why is she so embarrassed of her daughter??

obviously, this is a huge chip on her shoulder, and she'd prefer a world where nobody mentioned her gay daughter.

Ooops, I did it again!

[Hav]

38. .

The only thing I can conclude is, she is one horrible mother. What a cheap and tawdry political trick to abuse her daughter for politics. She's not a good human being.

[Sputnik]

39. Considering who Mary's parents are

it's amazing she's not asexual. If Dick and Lynne had been my role models of a man and a woman, when it came time to make my "choice" of sexual preference, I'd have checked the "none of the above" box.

[JerseygirlCT]

41. I don't understand why that's a trick -m

she's out, yes?

So, is her mother saying that being gay is something to be ashamed of? Something negative in some way?

That's like saying "Cheney's daughter has blue eyes, and I can tell you..."

I don't get the objections. Unless it's an objection to calling them out on their hypocrisy?

[Terran]

42. Ashamed of your daughter, Lynne?

That's the only reason I could see why you would be upset about Kerry's remark. Mary Cheney, god bless her traitorous soul, is an out Lesbian. Mentioning that on national TV is not news to anyone, or shouldn't be. And if you think it hurts Bush's chances for election, then you must have some problem with her homosexuality, not just Kerry's mentioning it.

[skypilot]

43. Pathetic.

After the Edwards/Cheney debate where Edwards mentioned Mary Cheney someone over at FreeRepublic tried to express the same kind of phony outrage but even a lot of the freepers weren't buying into it since everyone already knows that Mary is gay. Someone at FR even posted "This thread is idiotic." Lynne Cheney is being just as idiotic.

[KalicoKitty]

44. Alan Keyes ripped Mary Cheney...

...and Lynne didn't seem to mind.

Only when John Kerry expressed compassion and understanding for Mary Cheney's inherent lesbian nature did Lynne get all upset.

[Politicub]

45. I loved that comment

Because it drives the republican fundies banannas. They can't stand that thier fine conservative family, the Cheneys, is somehow tainted with a lesbain daughter.

I freaking love it.

I feel sorry for Mary, though. It must be tough having a mom who is so obviously ashamed of you.

I'm lucky that my mom is very proud of me, and is very protective when someone says something negative about me, or even gay people in general. Poor Mary - she must be saddled with major baggage and issues.

[Kierkegaard]

46. Apparently, she has forgotten who she is married to.

If you want to talk about 'good men,' and 'tawdry political tricks,' why don't you start with your own husband?

How dare this greasy hairball dislodged from a wildebeest colon say anything about an honest, caring and forthright man, when the one she is married to is fathoms of depth below snake excrement...

[Jacobin]

48. Trying to stuff her back in the closet, are they?

Why not try to accept your daughter for the person she is instead of wringing your hands, Mrs. Cheney?

Try it. You might like it.

[rocktivity]

49. If she should be mad at anyone, it should be Scheiffer

for asking such a dumb question.

Mary Cheney, one of the vice president's two daughters and an official of the Bush-Cheney campaign, has been open about her lesbian status.
Therefore, neither Kerry nor Edwards outed her. By the way can't she speak for hereself? As a campaign official, she doesn't even speak for her father!

:headbang:
rocknation

[ismnotwasm]

50. Lynne Cheney is cheap and psycotic

Seriously, the more I find out about her, the more I believe that she, like so many others of bushco, are plain just plain nuts. Hey Lynne, You are not a good woman. In fact you are a malignant blight on a already grieving, damaged society. Go away. Soon.

[Dr Fate]

51. Bush and his media hates it when Kerry tells the truth.

They may as well get used to it come November.

[sidpleasant]

52. Mary Cheney has been exploiting her homosexuality for years

Let's not forget that she took a job at Coors as their outreach rep to the gay community when gay bars all over America (but especially in NYC) were launching a boycott of the company's wretched swill beer over Coors' heinous anti - gay personnel practices. If Mary Cheney can exploit her sexuality for jobs and political gain then Kerry has every right to mention it too.

[Chelsea Patriot]

55. Like Mother, Like Daughter! Bitch Jr. is one sleazy wench!

Don't cry for Bitch Cheney Jr.

She and her Femme, Heather Poe, are counting the days until Sneer's heart goes out and all that Haliburton Blood Money is theirs!

Bitch Jr. spent the 2000 Campaign telling gay groups that the GOP would never, ever make gay marriage an issue.

Heather the Femme thinks that the Iraq Blood Money is her due for putting up with Harpy Lynne as Belle-Mere for all these years!

For Amorality, the Cheney Clan is second only to The BFEE.

[DFWJock]

56. Earth to Lynne

Your daughter is a lesbian, get over it.

[american_mutt]

60. where was her 'outrage'

six months ago when Alan Keyes specifically signaled out her daughter and called her "a selfish hedonist"

So where was it then dear? Was it OK then 'cause he is a repuke?

[Baclava]

62. A mom who wanted a daughter...

At least he didn't bring up the fact that she likes to be the man in her relationships.

[Zorra]

63. If the real truth were told, repubs would round up every gay, lesbian,

and transgendered individual and have them imprisoned and possibly executed if they could get away with it.

Lynne Cheney ought to be grateful to John Kerry for, as Steven Fisher said, "speaking to millions of American families who, like the Cheneys, have gay friends and family members."

Lynne Cheney's beloved Party hates her daughter and would persecute her if Democrats were not protecting her rights.

It's no secret that republicans are anti-GLBT. It's totally obvious, and everybody knows it.