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http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/10/101604mary.htm

by Paul Johnson 365Gay.com Washington Bureau Chief

Posted: October 16, 2004 4:02 pm ET



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» MORE NEWS»


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(Washington) 365Gay.com has learned that the GOP outrage over Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's remarks about Mary Cheney may have been orchestrated by Mary herself.

Sources close to the Bush-Cheney campaign tell 365Gay.com that the idea came up in a telephone call between Mary and her parents immediately after the presidential debate Wednesday night.

The younger Cheney, who serves as a backroom advisor to her father, suggested that she would continue to be a "issue" for Democrats unless something was done to stop it immediately.

Mary Cheney's sexuality has never been a secret. Prior to joining her father's 2000 campaign she worked as a gay and lesbian outreach coordinator for Coors Brewing Co. In 2000 she served in much the same function on her father's campaign.

This time, Mary is operating behind the scenes. But, in August, during a campaign stop in Davenport, Iowa, Cheney was asked about the President's support for a proposed amendment to the US Constitution. Cheney said he thought the issue should be left to the states, prefacing the remark with "Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it's an issue our family is very familiar with." (story)

During the GOP National Convention when Republican Senate hopeful Alan Keyes accused Mary Cheney of being a "sinner" and a "selfish hedonist" Dick and Lynne Cheney were silent. (story)

Following Dick Cheney's acceptance speech at the convention the Vice President's family appeared on the stage - all but Mary Cheney who had been in the hall for the speech. Her absence led LGBT commentators to openly question whether she was being hidden away. (story)

During the vice presidential debate when the issue of same-sex marriage came up Vice President Cheney said that "people ought to be free to choose any arrangement they want." (story)

Democratic VP candidate John Edwards replied saying it was obvious that the Cheneys loved their daughter and that "you can't have anything but respect" for them. "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and so does John Kerry," Edwards said.

That night Cheney thanked Edwards for the "kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much."

What changed between then and last Wednesday's third and final Presidential debate? The fear within the GOP that Democrats were using Mary Cheney as a "wedge issue" to divide Republicans.

The proposed amendment to ban gay marriage in the Constitution failed in both the House and the Senate because a sizable number of Republicans, for various reasons, opposed the measure.

The "G" word, which Republicans had believed would serve as a rallying cry and drive moderate conservatives to the GOP was being turned against them.

To get back on track, using homosexuality to the Republican's advantage, could only be done, the source tells 365Gay.com, by going on the attack, accusing Kerry of "insensitivity" and putting Democrats on the defensive.

Within an hour of Kerry's remark Lynne Cheney accused Kerry of pulling a "cheap and tawdry political trick." (story) The following morning the vice president called himself a "pretty angry father".

The ploy worked in drawing Democrats into the fray.

"I think that [Mrs. Cheney's complaint] indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences," Elizabeth Edwards, shot back in an interview on ABC radio news.

For the remainder of the week the media focus was on John Kerry's innocuous comment about Mary Cheney, taking away from Kerry the opportunity to campaign on the war, the economy, and health care.

With the the race for the White House still too close to call, but indications Kerry has been gaining, Republicans hope to keep the Mary Cheney issue alive and Democrats on the defensive.

you may or may not want to take this with a grain of salt, but the facts are facts. alan keyes can say whatever he wants about her, and nary a criticism from bushCO is heard. she can be hidden away at the GOP convenetion, and nothing is mentioned. fliers can be sent out by the RNC in swing states saying "LIBERALS WILL LET GAY PEOPLE MARRY" and nothing is said. john edwards can thank the cheney's for the respect he has and their lesbian daughter, and the VP responds with "thank you, that means a lot."

yet, john kerry brings it up, and now it's WRONG??

WRONG IS THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDENT BUSHCO'S TEAM WANTS ON GAY MARRIAGE BANS.

wrong is LIMITING ALL OF THEIR BASIC RIGHTS as couples.

this disgusts me; their fienged outrage. they were thoroughly owned in the 3 presidential debates, and now they need something to fall back on.

truly sickening how the GOP divides the country.

 

[MetatronM]

I don't even really get the controversy. I mean, when he said it, I thought maybe he was taking a bit of a risk, but it wasn't like he had anything negative to say about her. His point was pretty positive.

It would certainly have been smarter of Kerry to not say it at all, but it's not like he had anything bad to say about her.

 

[demon]

The Bush admin is going to latch onto ANYTHING they can that will make Kerry look bad. This doesn't surprise me one bit, as despicable as it is.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

this was such a "forced" controversy. People behind the scenes and in the media trying to stir shit up and create a story out of nothing. Seriously, nobody outside of the Bush/Cheney camp or the major media outlets thinks anything Kerry said was offensive or even gives a shit. I don't understand why this is being talked about.

 

[Ripclawe]

lots of spinning in that article

1) Rule #1 of politics, you do NOT bring in the children of your opponents into a political campaign to make a point. It doesn't matter the subject, its considered at the very least mean-spirited.

2) This article characterizes Cheney's response to Edwards as being friendly, anyone looking at that tape could see and hear it in his voice that he was pissed and one notch below punching edwards for it.

3) Mary Beth Cahill, Kerry's campaign came on the air after the debates and said Mary Cheney was "fair game" That confirmed that Mary Cheney mention was on purpose, this is not mentioned in the article.

4) The Press corp groaned in the press area when Kerry made that remark because they knew he stepped into it. I doubt Mary Cheney was the only one to realize the gaff Kerry made.

This has nothing to do with her sexuality, it has everything to do with Rule #1 which Kerry broke to try and make a point.

http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041015/NEWS09/410150395/1001&lead=1

Reporter: Okay, I have one quick follow-up. Right afterwards, Mary Beth Cahill was on television.

Kerry: I didn’t see it. I haven’t seen television in ages. (laughs)

Reporter: She was asked about this and said that Mary Cheney is ‘fair game.’ I wonder if you agree with that, if Mary Cheney is fair-

Kerry: No, I don’t like that characterization. I did not know she said that.

Reporter: Yeah, it was in an interview with Chris Wallace.

Kerry: Well, I don’t… I would ask her not to characterize it as such. I don’t think- I think what she meant is that I was trying to express it in a sort of legitimate way. I don’t consider it that way. That’s not the way I looked at it.

Reporter: Do you consider any candidate’s family fair game? In any situation?

Kerry: No. Personally, no.

This issue has hurt Kerry

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38563-2004Oct16.html

Singling Out Mary Cheney Wrong, Most Say
2 in 3 Polled Find Kerry's Comment 'Inappropriate'

By Richard Morin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 17, 2004; Page A05

An overwhelming majority of voters believes it was wrong for John F. Kerry to have mentioned in Wednesday's presidential debate that Vice President Cheney's daughter is a lesbian, according to The Washington Post tracking survey.

Nearly two in three likely voters -- 64 percent -- said Kerry's comment was "inappropriate," including more than four in 10 of his supporters and half of all swing voters. A third -- 33 percent -- thought the remark was appropriate.

 

[Incognito]

hey, rip, why didn't the GOP become incensed over prior mentions of mary cheney? why only john kerry?

and "you could tell dick cheney was pissed" argument isn't going to fly here. if he was truly upset, he would have said something after the debate.

 

[Boomer]

Why the fuck do they talk about his daughter anyway? Why do they have to use that example?

 

[Incognito]

Why the fuck do they talk about his daughter anyway? Why do they have to use that example?

ask Bush/Cheney '04. they mentioned her quite often in campaign speeches long before edwards and kerry did.

 

[Deg]

1) Rule #1 of politics, you do NOT bring in the children of your opponents into a political campaign to make a point. It doesn't matter the subject, its considered at the very least mean-spirited.

Really? Could you show me where this is taught in politics? All books on politics mention this as the first thing?

 

[lexi]

The GOP spin machine is working in overtime.

Mary Cheney is the proverbial whipping boy of the entire matter, John Kerry mentions her in a positive note, Edwards commending Dick Cheney, the only reason this is an issue is because GOP/Fox is making it an issue. Mary Cheney has received a greater disservice from the GOP than anything Kerry/Edwards/DNC has ever said.

1) Rule #1 of politics, you do NOT bring in the children of your opponents into a political campaign to make a point. It doesn't matter the subject, its considered at the very least mean-spirited.

I wonder if you remember when McCain was running in the 2000 primaries; the Bush election comittee ran a smear campaign that suggested to voters that he fathered an illegitimate black baby. Wherein actual fact he adopted a young girl from Bangladesh.

 

[Ripclawe]

hey, rip, why didn't the GOP become incensed over prior mentions of mary cheney? why only john kerry?

John Edwards mention was getting play, then the second debate came, and Mary Cheney wasn't mentioned, it died down, then came the 3rd debate and people realized this was a political plan, not just a cheap shot earlier.

and "you could tell dick cheney was pissed" argument isn't going to fly here. if he was truly upset, he would have said something after the debate.[/

Why, at that point it was a considered a cheap shot, but not enough to make hay about it without coming off as a whiner, but then you add in Kerry and Cahill's "fair game" comment, you got yourself a campaign admitting they are using the opponent's child as a political pawn.

 

[Dilbert]

Ripclawe, everything you say is complete bullshit...just because it comes from you.

 

[Incognito]

:lol @ "political gameplan" theories.

wtf have the GOP been doing regarding gay issues the past 4 months? it's all political for them; sole purpose of dividing lines.

 

[Particle Physicist]

so what was the exact comment.. i missed it.

 

[videogamer]

Reading some of the responses to the controversy has me laughing...some people are acting like being gay is a bad thing. To me, the so-called "outing" is comparable to telling people about your opponent's daugher's occupation. This information isn't anything new and it's nothing bad either.

Mary Cheney is a grown up woman who works in politics.. she's not 12 year old Chelsea. She's not a naive young girl who needs daddy's protection.

 

[ge-man]

so what was the exact comment.. i missed it.

It really wasn't anything in particular. Kerry was talking about gays and marriage issues and he mentioned that Cheney's daughter was a lesbian as an example for his point. The outrage is that Kerry mentioned anything about their daughter--there's nothing he said that was actually offensive IIRC. Frankly, I'm more offended by the negative reaction--people are acting like Kerry told some huge secret or that he was holding her homosexuality against her.

 

[Nerevar]

Ripclawe, everything you say is complete bullshit...just because it comes from you.

:lol

this needs to be a tag. I love how Ripclawe ignores all the posts in here that have merit (suggestions the Bush team used her, or the Bush team's smear campaign towards McCain's in the primaries in 2000), and only respondes to those that he can counterpoint.

Face it, Kerry didn't say anything insulting. I know 90% might think it was "inappropriate" to mention it, but those are probably the same people who, if they had a gay child, wouldn't want anyone else to mention it either - because of the embarassment it would cause them.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Well guess what? It's working. Kerry is starting to slip in nearly all the major polls, and most people are citing the "Cheney daughter" situation as the main reason.

Win all 3 debates and gain a couple of percentage points, but make mention of your opponents lesbian daughter in appropriate context, watch your numbers slide downward.

It's all very depressing to be honest. This is a sad sad country.

 

[Mercury Fred]

Uhm, first of all Mary Cheney runs her father's re-election campaign. She doesn't just stump for him like the Bush daughters or the Kerry daughters. There's a huge difference there.

Next, fuck Cheney, his wife, Mary and the Bushes. How fucking dare they claim this is unfair. They've been running a gay bashing campaign to shore up the votes of the wack job fundies then cry foul when Kerry has the audacity to call out Mary as a lesbian. They've been using gay people as a wedge. Well, they can't have it both ways. This is the worst sort of hypocrisy. How Mary Cheney sleeps at night is beyond me. Maybe she's borrowing from Laura Bush's stash. That anyone could think that the woman running the fucking Cheney re-election campaign is unmentionable is so offensive that I don't even know where to begin. Seriously, Bush supporters, the biggest fuck you of all goes to all of you for putting up with this inhuman shit.

[/rant]

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

2) This article characterizes Cheney's response to Edwards as being friendly, anyone looking at that tape could see and hear it in his voice that he was pissed and one notch below punching edwards for it.

Didn't sound that way to me. Well, other than the omnipresent Cheney surliness.

3) Mary Beth Cahill, Kerry's campaign came on the air after the debates and said Mary Cheney was "fair game" That confirmed that Mary Cheney mention was on purpose, this is not mentioned in the article.

Saying that she's fair game after the fact confirms that it was purposeful? Buh? She's an adult, public figure; not an unmentionable.

This seems about as out-of-line as if President Bush somehow got a question regarding mixed families, and mentioned that John Kerry had stepsons.

Well guess what? It's working. Kerry is starting to slip in nearly all the major polls, and most people are citing the "Cheney daughter" situation as the main reason.

Any poll from a single organization that has been done multiple times in the last 4 days is sure to have fluctuation just by the nature of polling.

 

[CrunchyB]

Yeah, what is up with that Mary Cheney anyways? She's running a campaign that will seriously limit her own rights, it's like the twilight zone...

 

[N Coward Parody]

Here's what gets my goat:

I watch, admittedly, too much CNN.

Several anchors have visibly or verbally shown disgust or distaste over how LUDICROUS these allegations are from the Bush campaign, and how it is CLEARLY manufactured controversy...

And YET, they will continue to report it, they will continue to bring in "experts" from "both sides" to debate this nonsense... Hell, even many of the Republican talking heads are calling it a non-issue, and yet, because the other news channels are still running with it, the more "respectable" (debatable!) ones continue to run with it...

I don't understand why big news networks can't just, well, NOT REPORT INNOCUOUS NEWS. Just because everyone is running it, doesn't make it news. Like how the LA Times, back in the early 90's I believe, refused to run stories about gang violence in an effort to discourage it. They figured the media attention was simply helping to bolster gang activity. I think that's admirable, and journalistically ethical. WHEN DID THAT DISSIPATE?


*Noel Coward Parody

 

[lexi]

Yeah, what is up with that Mary Cheney anyways? She's running a campaign that will seriously limit her own rights, it's like the twilight zone...

Agreed, the most baffling thing to me is a gay social conservative. It's like a Jewish Nazi, or a black KKK member.

Maybe it's sadomasochism?

 

[fart]

Agreed, the most baffling thing to me is a gay social conservative. It's like a Jewish Nazi, or a black KKK member.

Maybe it's sadomasochism?

http://www.thislife.org/ra/272.ram

 

[Dan]

Agreed, the most baffling thing to me is a gay social conservative. It's like a Jewish Nazi, or a black KKK member.

Maybe it's sadomasochism?

Eh, those aren't particularly good analogies considering conservatives stand for a lot more than limiting the rights of homosexuals, while the KKK doesn't really stand for anything past minority discrimination. Same principle for Nazis.

 

[videogamer]

Eh, those aren't particularly good analogies considering conservatives stand for a lot more than limiting the rights of homosexuals, while the KKK doesn't really stand for anything past minority discrimination. Same principle for Nazis.

Uh Nazis stood for more than just minority discrimination....

edit: hitokage put it better

 

[Hitokage]

Eh, those aren't particularly good analogies considering conservatives stand for a lot more than limiting the rights of homosexuals, while the KKK doesn't really stand for anything past minority discrimination. Same principle for Nazis.

You don't really know what the KKK and Nazis stood for, do you.

 

[Willco]

Think of all the good things Hitler did, though.

... If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have gotten such great films like Raiders of the Lost Ark or Hellboy!

What I'm really trying to say is that I feel like a lesbian trapped in a man's body.

 

[Ripclawe]

Really? Could you show me where this is taught in politics? All books on politics mention this as the first thing?

Well, here is one.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/election2004/9920000.htm?1c

BY JIM PUZZANGHERA

Knight Ridder Newspapers

...Stephen Hess, a political analyst at the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, and author of "The Little Book of Campaign Etiquette," said he was "absolutely startled" by Kerry's mention of Mary Cheney.

Hess said Kerry crossed the line of political decorum - even though Mary Cheney is openly gay and her parents have talked publicly about her in the past.

"To make it about an opponent's daughter struck me as such poor taste," Hess said.

 

[Dan]

You don't really know what the KKK and Nazis stood for, do you.

Uh, no, I do. The KKK and Nazism have narrower and more distinct beliefs/policies than what'd you say American Conservatism has, and that's my point. Pretty much by definition the term "conservative" is a far broader umbrella than either the KKK or Nazism, and so I see it as less baffling for someone to align themselves with the general conservative position than a different one (basically a liberal position) than it would be with someone aligning themselves with the KKK or Nazism as opposed to a different perspective.

The point is that I don't think it's baffling that a homosexual might consider themselves more conservative than liberal. It's not like their sexual position is the only or even a main issue of the general conservative viewpoint. When you're forced into being labeled either one or the other, a disagreement on one issue no matter how personal, isn't necessarily going to be enough to make you label yourself the other side. To say it's "baffling" is just a bit narrowminded.

 

[Hitokage]

Except he said social conservative, not conservative.

 

[Mandark]

The GOP definitely has a better spin machine than the Dems. Bush lies on camera about something he said (also on camera!) and the main spin point is that Dick Cheney is shocked, SHOCKED that someone would mention that his daughter, an openly gay woman who has been worked as a liason to the gay communities for Coors and for the Bush campaign, was gay.

I am sorry to say that the phenomenon of the blinking, befuddled liberal is still with us. Shame on all the media whores who “gasped” when Kerry said the word “lesbian.” Shame on Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution for claiming that Kerry’s reply to Schieffer’s question “crossed the line of political decorum” and demonstrated “such poor taste.” Shame on all you homophobes and your faux-liberal enablers.

Dick and Lynne Cheney are right to be outraged, as are sincere and heartfelt gay rights' advocates Glenn Reynolds and Mickey Kaus. And this outrage comes not because they feel that homosexuality is shameful or icky or full of cooties. It is because they know that the greatest shame one can bring to a lesbian is to note their existence.

Before John Kerry's terrible words, Mary Cheney only had to be gay to her family, her friends, the Coors Corporation, the staff of Bush/Cheney Re-Elect, and the gay community at large to whom she acted as a liason. But John Kerry made her gay to the entire world, effectively making her more gay than ever before.

Senator Kerry could have made his point about gay and lesbian Americans without mentioning the Vice-President's daughter.

However, this shouldn't distract us from the fact that President Bush, Karl Rove and other Republicans have been using gay and lesbian families as a political wedge issue in this campaign.

Cheney is not outraged. He's not close to punching everyone. Kerry didn't say a single bad thing about his daughter. He's feigning the role of protective patriarch, the same way Bill Clinton did when he responded to Jerry Brown bringing up Whitewater in a 92 primary debate. There is no serious person who believes Cheney's ire is genuine. End of discussion.

 

[Matlock]

For the most part, the KKK and the Nazi party were a couple of groups of guys (in the Nazi party's case, it was pretty much a labor union) who just decided to use a group as a scapegoat for why the good old days aren't around anymore.

The direct analogue could be made between Christian Conservatives and homosexuals, but that would be both shortighted and ignorant.

 

[Dan]

Except he said social conservative, not conservative.

Oh....

Then I just can't plain read properly at 2am. Heh, sorry. My point would then be much less relevant.

 

[effzee]

besides this no news no controversy even what i cant fathom is that alan keyes said what he said about his daughter and nothing was said to him?

 

[cvxfreak]

God damnit, those Republicans are trippin'. They know it's true, they know it hurts their campaign, they know it shows them to be insane hypocrites. What a bunch of losers.

 

[videogamer]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/10/10/MNG0996S3R1.DTL

Homosexuals who voted for Bush in 2000 are increasingly turned off by his message. The Log Cabin Republicans are an example of this. The link is for an article that follows another pro-Bush gay group that has since been negatively impacted by Bush's decisions.

REBECCA MAESTRI
The 47-year-old former aide to Sen. Alphonse D'Amato, R-N.Y, is president of the Virginia chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans.

After the razor-tight 2000 election, Maestri said she assumed the GOP would court every voter group. But when she met with a Republican outreach operative, she was told they "had a very long list of folks they were supporting, like snowmobile riders and Lebanese, but the gay community was not there. I thought maybe that's a typo, maybe they meant to say lesbians. But Lebanese and snowmobile riders are on there but the gay community's not? I mean what does that tell you?"

CARL SCHMID

The 44-year-old Washington, D.C., lobbyist and Republican activist, an early Bush supporter and donor, helped put together the list of who to invite to the Austin meeting.

After the event was over, he helped Bush campaign spokesman Scott McClellan write the news release.

"No Republican nominee had ever met with a group of gay people before," Schmid said. "It was very controversial. The right wing of the Republican party doesn't want to legitimize gay people, so the meeting was historic."

Three years later, Schmid said, "I had been let down completely. ... How can I vote for him? I stopped doing anything positive to do with him and his re-election."