http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-carlson15oct15,1,697084.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions She's Here, She's Queer -- Get Used to It
MARGARET CARLSON
October 15, 2004
snip-
Mary Cheney is happily in the public eye, an open lesbian whose job before she joined the 2000 campaign was as liaison to the gay community for Coors beer in Colorado. She now holds one of the most important jobs in her dad's reelection effort. And her life partner joined the Cheneys on stage in St. Louis after the debate. She'd have to be in deep denial to think her sexual orientation wasn't going to come up, given that Republicans have made gay marriage a defining issue of the campaign.
I also wondered if Mrs. Cheney has talked to Mr. Cheney to get their stories straight. It was dear old Dad who first made Mary Cheney a talking point in the campaign earlier this year, discussing how there is some daylight between his position on the gay marriage amendment and that of the president. And in last week's veep debate, he actually thanked John Edwards for making reference to Mary.
snip-
Republicans know they have to be careful how they strike back for fear of alienating their moderates. For the first time, Log Cabin Republicans are not supporting the GOP. The constitutional amendment on gay marriage was too far to go for a tax cut.
You couldn't read Lynne Cheney's outburst about a cheap and tawdry trick without thinking that she herself finds homosexuality cheap and tawdry. Herein lies the irony of the flap. At the moment of Bush's evasion, it was entirely appropriate for Kerry to drive home the point that, as the Cheneys and millions of other American families know, homosexuality is about identity, not about a lifestyle choice.
continued