October 18, 2004
On obfuscatory language
William "I coined 'nattering nabobs', did you know?" Safire does his part to make sure the manufactured controversy about John Kerry mentioning that Cheney's daughter is a lesbian stays in the news.
Until [Edwards mentioned Cheney's gay daughter], only political junkies knew that a member of the Cheney family serving on the campaign staff was homosexual. The vice president, to show it was no secret or anything his family was ashamed of, had referred to it briefly twice this year, but the press -- respecting family privacy -- had properly not made it a big deal.
Uh...hang on a second. Cheney announced to the press (emphasis obvious) that his daughter was a lesbian, and we are to think his family privacy needs to be protected? Basically, Safire is saying it's okay for Cheney to mention his gay daughter so he can look like a compassionate guy, but it's not okay for anyone else to mention it by way of showing what big-ass hypocrites Bush and Cheney are.
And, I mean, god forbid that voters are more concerned with whether Kerry said the word "lesbian" than with the freaking Supreme Court.
(Update: If you enjoyed the above post, but would like to read a longer, better-written version, here you go.)
Posted by Francis at 10:13 AM | TrackBackI'm something of a political junkie this year, but I haven't always been one; and it was not news to me that Cheney's daughter was a lesbian. I knew that before this campaign started.
Man, I can't wait for this thing to be over.
Posted by: Lance at October 18, 2004 01:18 PMThis was supposed to be a secret? DearMary.com has been registered since January 2004 -- it's a site where people can write letters to Cheney's daughter begging her to use whatever shreds of influence she has to make her father act like a human being.
Mary Cheney was certainly an out lesbian before the *2000* campaign, much less this one. Man, I hate those asshole Republicans.
Posted by: Rose at October 18, 2004 02:02 PM