Is this Mary Cheney thing going to hurt Kerry?

[PlanetBev]

I'm at work, so I have no idea if this is all they're talking about on CNN, etc. How are people reacting, besides Lynne Cheney? And, is this going to turn into another big GOP "hoo hah?"

Sorry, I'm nervous about everything right now.

[Mizmoon]

1. I don't think so

I don't think it has legs.

[terrya]

2. No. I don't honestly think people will care about this. This will be over.

by next week.

[blackcat77]

3. It shouldn't

The Pubs are faux-outraged, as if they care about gay people anyway. But I've seen nothing from any gay or lesbian which shows they are offended in any way. In fact, Andrew Sullivan was very supportive of Kerry's statement and said that if it put anyone in a bad light, it was the Cheneys and their Republican enablers.

[Cats Against Frist]

4. It's another GOP "false delimma"

Kerry mentions Cheney's gay daughter, therefore Kerry is not a good man. Either you're quiet about gay daughters and you're a good man, or you talk about them and you're a bad man.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

[July]

20. Yep, manufactured outrage.

They don't mind when Republicans trash gays all over town -- including Alan Keyes's specific mention of Mary Cheney as "by definition" a "selfish hedonist." But Kerry's use of her as an example of a gay person (gasp!) is cheap. Uh-huh.

[Politicub]

28. Good point

I forgot about Keyes referring to Mary Cheney as a de facto selfish hedonist.

That didn't bother the Cheneys' but simply saying that MAry is a lesbain does. That's because they Cheneys' are ashamed of her. Nasty, vile parents.

One of my really good friends doesn't have a relationship with his mother because she can't accept him being gay. It's so sad. I'm lucky that my mom and dad are fully accepting of me and my partner.

[sangh0]

30. And DU is falling for it

Instead of discussing bush*'s paranoid remark about the media, or how he forgot that he said he doesn't worry about OBL, DUers are talking about lesbians, as if we didn't already have the lesbian vote.

[Politicub]

40. In a way, it may be good that this issue is getting press

It drives the fundies freaking bananas that their frequent-guests-on-the-700-club idols, Dick and Lynne Cheney, have the nerve to have a gay daughter.

It must make them nutty.

I just read good article on ABCNews.com. It was a more balanced article, with Kerry's statement from today juxtaposed with the Cheneys' outburst and Elizabeth Edwards' interview. It makes Lynne Cheney seem absolutely disgusted with Mary.

The Cheneys' outrage may keep the base in line for Bush, but it will turn off women and other Americans who love their children and are proud of them no matter what!

[knowbody0]

5. spin is unraveling

like a snake that eats its tail

[Catfight]

6. No, it will remind people how extreme Bush is on the Right. n/t

[omnithrope]

7. I doubt it.

The people that are outraged are the ones that weren't going to vote for him in the first place.

[WI_DEM]

8. I think at most it is a 2-day mini story

a shame since Bush told a huge whopper last night about his comments regarding Bin-Laden and not being concerned.

[terrya]

12. That's the saddest part of the whole thing. That completely was...

swept aside by the Mary Cheney story.

[shaolinmonkey]

9. I'm guessing no. Here's why:

1) Alan Keyes already called her a "selfish hedonist", so this is misplaced outrage
2) Fundies are probably uncomfortable with her
3) Log Cabin Repubs probably aren't thrilled with the anti-gay marriage plank and the obvious way they hide Mary Cheney

I think this will divide republicans more than anything.

Anyone with a brain will realize what Kerry meant by the statement, but then again, you can't rely on the collective brains of the American populace.

[expatriot]

10. I don't think it has legs either... it almost is a good thing in that...

this is evidently the only thing they have on Kerry this debate. The first one it was the "He said 'global test!'" Now it is "**gasp** Kerry made reference to Mary Cheney's sexual preference!"

[montana500]

14. nope

it will blow over by 8 tonight

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. Why? It is a fact, unlike all the bogus shit cast out by the chimp&dick.

What can they do about it? If they talk it up, even more rw asses will find out about the evil shameful daughter.

[Borgnine]

13. It'll be dead by weekend.

If this is all they have, it's pretty damn weak.

[K8-EEE]

15. NO It Will Help Him!

It's brilliant; a splintering issue within the GOP. They are probably pissed that GWB didn't say it was a "lifestyle choice!" They are wrong wrong, WRONG about that amendment and that is why they are making such a big deal over it.

[nyhuskyfan]

16. Not directly...

But it has allowed the discussion to veer off course into something other than the important policy issues, and Kerry's 3-for-3 sweep. I'd rather have Bush's "exaggeration" quote playing in the media.

Either way, it wasn't a slip-up. Clearly, it was Kerry's intention to mention Cheney's daughter in any discussion of gay/lesbian issues, so if it bites him in the butt, it was a miscalculation.

[sangh0]

17. Why would bush*'s saying "I don't think about Bin Laden"

hurt Kerry?

:shrug:

[dogtag]

18. It appears to be the ONLY talking point they could

come up with post debate. That's pretty sad for them.

As with the Osama bin Forgotten clip of Shrub saying just that playing all over the airwaves today, the clip of the Cheneys talking about Mary on the stump is also getting plenty of coverage.

They are trying hard to make it seem that Kerry outed poor 'in the closet Mary,' but as we know that isn't the fact. Just like them to want to have it both ways. No surprise here.

[evilqueen]

19. Fuck this Cheney story... Nightline and Sinclair are more important

[sam sarrha]

21. only purpose is to draw attention from the "Ossama" comment

[bush equals idiot]

22. It's so absurd, it's laughable.

Cheney himself announced that she was gay. It came up at the VP debate just last week. Now they're going to make it a negative that Kerry said he has compassion for all people, making it clear in a touching and emotional way? Please, it will be very quickly seen by people that this is outrageous on THEIR part. Kerry will benefit even more.

[undercover_brother]

23. nope. only the conservative talking heads are "angry"

[Politicub]

24. We were talking about it at work

And most folks have been saying something to the effect that Mary Cheney is a lesbian. They don't understand the Cheneys' outrage.

To a mom in my office, Lynne is coming across as ashamed of her daughter.

[Princess Turandot]

39. From what I've read, Lynne Cheney NEVER talks abt her daughter..

being gay..Cheney himself has mentioned it when it suits his purpose.
I think you are exactly right. I doubt anyone who wants gays to have equal rights will see this 'outrage' as anything but what it is: fear that a few fundies won't come out and vote because the Cheneys have not rejected their daughter, or sent her to a 're-orientation camp'.

[Texas_Dem]

25. I don't think so either.

The more the Press talks about it, the more information will come out about how Mary worked for Coors Brewing company in their gay outreach program underwriting gay events. More will be said about Lynne Cheney's poorly written lesbian novel from 1981. It will come out that Mary and her partner were not invited on stage at the convention or the debate because Dick and Lynne are embarrassed and ashamed. The Bush campaign wants to hide that stuff you can bet.

The spotlight will eventually shine back on the republican party and some of their members who say Mary is a hedonist and sinner and a "disease", but no outrage from Dick and Lynne. The Cheney's better be careful about asking for attention on this subject. They have ALOT they want to hide.

[IIgnoreNobody]

26. It will hurt Bush

I don't see Kerry supporters, even weak ones, abandoning because he said:

SCHIEFFER: Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?

KERRY: 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 choice. I've met people who struggled with this for years, people who were in a marriage because they were living a sort of convention, and they struggled with it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/debatereferee/debate_1013.html

but I do see fundies staying home rather than 'voting for lesbianism'.

[pelagius]

27. Why is Mary Cheney Not Expressing Outrage?

She's a 31-year-old grown woman who can speak for herself. As a B/C campaign employee, she would presumably have a vested interest in throwing fuel on this fire.

C'mon, Mary. Let's hear about your outrage.

[bush equals idiot]

31. Exactly. Let the nation feel your pain.

[pacalo]

29. It's not going to hurt Kerry overall, imo.

It was clever of him to mention the Cheneys' daughter. It was a way to put the brakes on one of their main criticisms about Kerry, the gay marriage issue. He comes from a state that created a law to allow gay marriages, & they love to call him the most liberal senator.

Kerry sent them a message: If you want to make a major issue out of gay marriages, you have to deal with your own reality.

[Cha]

32. Very Good!

I love the sig line picture, too, of Dana and Christopher!

[pacalo]

38. Thanks, zidzi!

I wanted to add one more thing about the Cheney flap: It's very telling that, instead of standing tall for & proud of their daughter regardless of her views on life, they're feigning hurt feelings/outrage over this, despite the fact that it's been known since Cheney started ruling this country that she was a lesbian.

They're obviously playing to the wingnuts who wrote in about it, because they're personally offended about it & didn't like it one bit when the reality was laid out for them. There's no way they didn't know about it; they just want it kept hush-hush.

[against all enemies]

33. Maybe Cheney is mad because Bush didn't know.

You know they don't bother Bush with to much information. And God told Bush that gays were bad, why tell him Dick has a "bad" daughter.

[wadestock]

34. Logically it shouldn't, but it will be exploited to the max....

Prime fodder to paint him as insensitive....thus feeding into the notion that Bush is more likeable.

Edwards had accomplished everything that could have been accomplished...and he did it much better.

Whoever thought this was clever was in error.

[hippiegranny]

35. it's all they've got to work with,

bless their little black hearts, so they're trying their damndest to make something from nothing. as soon as the first poll comes out telling them that the 'murkan public couldn't care less, they'll drop it.

[depakid]

36. Who even cares about this except people with liberal

sensitivities?

Do you really think it matters to "moderate" swing voters?

[lakemonster11]

37. Exactly.

The only people who care about homophobia (which, I guess is what Dick and Lynne Cheney are accusing Kerry of) are those people to whom Kerry's remark was not defamatory in the least.

The gay marriage issue is very important to me, and it is to many other young heterosexuals like me. We may not be gay, but we see banning gay marriage the same way that we see banning interracial marriage. It's a civil rights issue.

The Republican Party platform is a homophobic statement.

Kerry's mention of Mary Cheney's homosexuality was the opposite.