posted October 13, 2004 09:10 PM            

So, hope you guys are watching or listening as well. I'm looking forward to your insightful and enlightening comments, Knowflakes.

posted October 15, 2004 01:57 PM            

And the flat assertion by John Edwards wife that the Cheney's were ashamed of their lesbian daughter?

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 10:32 a.m. EDT
Time for John Edwards to Step Down?

If Lynne Cheney had accused Elizabeth Edwards of being ashamed of her daughter because of her sexual preference, would the press simply report the comment the next day, note that Democrats were unhappy about it, and let it go at that?

And would journalists simply ignore the matter in interviews with Mr. Cheney - as they're doing today with Mr. Edwards in regards to his wife's remarkably ugly outburst.

During the 2000 South Carolina primary, when supporters of President Bush cited John McCain's adpoted mixed-race daughter to spread the claim that he'd fathered a black child out of wedlock, Democrats and their media friends yelped howls of outrage.
Though the Bush campaign had no hand in the smear - the press continues to revile the incident as the lowest moment in recent political memory.

That assessment, however, is no longer operative - thanks to Mrs. Edwards, who simply outdid herself on Thursday by perpetrating the most outrageous and bizarre personal attack in modern political history.

During Wednesday night's presidential debate, John Kerry engaged in exactly what team Bush was accused of doing in South Carolina, gratuitously interjecting an opponent's child into the race in a bid to stir up what his side perceives as a well-spring of latent right wing prejudice.

But think how much worse it might have been if, in reaction to the anti-McCain smear, Laura Bush sallied forth to say that if the McCains didn't like the attack, it was only because they're ashamed of their black daughter.

It's not an exaggeration to say that George Bush's presidential aspirations would have ended right then and there. As for Mrs. Bush, she'd be remembered for all time as one of the most most mean-spirited and disgraceful women to ever to enter the public arena.

By stating flatly that Lynne Cheney's objections to having her daughter outed on national TV showed "a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences," Elizabeth Edwards has done just that - compounding the ugliness of the intial Kerry outing exponentially.

So far, even Republicans have been caught breathless by the depth of Mrs. Edwards treachery. The Cheneys haven't demanded that she apologize, and neither Mr. Edwards, his boss nor his boss's billionaire wife have even acknowledged that she may have crossed the line.

If the shoe were on the other foot, however, and Lynne Cheney had offered such a diabolical and noxious remark, the press would be filled with editorials today suggesting that she and her husband were unfit to serve as America's second family - and that President Bush should either ask Mr. Cheney to step down or suffer the consequences on Election Day.

That's why it would be terribly wrong for the GOP to give John and Elizabeth Edwards a pass on this one. Her political sin was no mere gaffe, but rather a calculated attempt to paint Lynne and Dick Cheney as holding bigoted views against one of their own children.

posted October 15, 2004 02:59 PM            

******

Ok, I knew the Cheney's had addressed their daughter's homosexuality before, publicly, so I looked it up:

"DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, spoke supportively about gay relationships on Tuesday, saying "freedom means freedom for everyone."

At a campaign rally in this Mississippi River town, Cheney was asked about his stand on gay marriage -- an issue for which his boss, President Bush, has pushed for a constitutional amendment to ban such unions.

"Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it's an issue our family is very familiar with," Cheney said. "With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone ... People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.

"The question that comes up with the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that's been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made that fundamental decision of what constitutes a marriage," he said." http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2004/08/24/600346.html

SO ... if the family has already addressed it to the public why on Earth would they feel "outed" and/or upset by having that already known fact mentioned on TV? I still don't think Mrs. Edwards was being proper in stating her opinion about it in that faashion, but I would venture to guess that a lot of people may have related to that sentiment. I know I'm confused about it.

posted October 15, 2004 03:23 PM            

John Edwards also brought up the issue of the Cheney's daughter being a lesbian in the Vice Presidential debate last week.

However, it's Edwards wife's comment that the Cheney's must be ashamed of their lesbian daughter that has caused the real firestorm.

The real intent of those remarks by Kerry and Edwards was to drive an image wedge between the Vice President who is accepting of homosexual marriage and the President who is not.

It was also done to drive a wedge between the segment of the Bush supporters who do not agree with either homosexuality or homosexual marriage and the Bush/Cheney campaign.

That makes it a cynical political ploy by Kerry and Edwards and a viscous attack on the Cheney's by Edwards wife.