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Fri. Oct 15, 2004

The L Word

It is perhaps the most typically partisan moment of this insanely partisan election.

The Cheney’s tell us they’re angry. Mrs. Cheney: “This is not a good man. And, of course, I’m speaking as a mom. And a pretty indignant one… What a cheap and tawdry political trick.” And Vice President Cheney: “You saw a man who will say and do anything in order to get elected. And I am not speaking just as a father here, though I am a pretty angry father, but as a citizen.”

Being one of those voters who’d “have to be a complete idiot to be unable to choose between one of the candidates by now,” perhaps this hub-bub is over my pitifully empty head. Let’s look at the transcript.

SCHIEFFER: ... Both of you are opposed to gay marriage. But to understand how you have come to that conclusion, I want to ask you a more basic question. 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.

And I’ve met wives who are supportive of their husbands or vice versa when they finally sort of broke out and allowed themselves to live who they were, who they felt God had made them.

I think we have to respect that.

Oh. He used the “L” word to reference Cheney’s daughter. But didn’t we already go over this? Didn’t Edwards also mention Cheney’s daughter in their debate, also in direct response to a question about gays? Is he a “bad man” too?

Addressing a direct question on this issue just as Kerry was, Edwards said: “Now, as to this question, let me say first that I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much. And you can’t have anything but respect for the fact that they’re willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her. It’s a wonderful thing. And there are millions of parents like that who love their children, who want their children to be happy.”

I see. Edwards didn’t use the “L” word, he used the “G” word, and that apparently passed the Cheney test, judging by his response:

IFILL: Mr. Vice President, you have 90 seconds.

CHENEY: Well, Gwen, let me simply thank the senator for the kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much.

IFILL: That’s it?

CHENEY: That’s it.

OK. So Edwards isn’t a “bad man,” the VP said he was “kind” and “appreciated.” And that’s it.

But when Kerry mentions Cheney’s daughter in response to another direct question on gay/lesbian issues, it’s a cheap and tawdry trick. What is it when someone says Mary Cheney is a “selfish hedonist”? Unworthy of condemnation because it came from the mouth of a Republican?

If the daughter of a life-long hard-right Republican is gay, you’ve got to know it isn’t by choice. To me, Kerry was giving a clear and specific example of the larger concept; when homosexuals are discriminated against, legislated against, sometimes even beaten and killed, plus used as a “cheap and tawdry” political football, why would anyone choose to be gay? Who would choose to be treated in such a way?

Let’s be real. Just between you and me. You know me. I don’t like either of these guys, and got no dog in this fight. You and I, we can talk about what’s really going on here, when others won’t. Because this is a distinctly two sided political game.

Kerry/Edwards believe that there’s a considerable number of people planning to vote for Bush/Cheney who range from uncomfortable with gays, to flat out bigoted against them. Homophobic. So when they get asked a question about gay issues, they don’t hesitate to bring up Mary Cheney, thinking it might cause enough reflexive shuddering in some that they might just stay home on election day. Ugly tactics? Maybe, but it’s just another small wedge issue among dozens of them on both sides of this election. Is it really any cheaper or more tawdry than the Swift Boat Vets or the National Guard stories?

On the other hand, it’s not like they were outing Ms. Cheney, as she was employed to work on gay relations for the Coors Brewing Co., and also has some titled position within the Cheney campaign. She’s no shy retiring flower hiding her pedals, she’s clearly out, and in the game.

As for the Cheneys, you don’t play hardball in DC for decades and then suddenly develop a glass jaw about your adult daughter. I see a calculated false “outrage,” in response to a calculated “innocent” mention of the VP’s daughter. I see calculated attempts to control the post-debate news cycle. Kerry got the first post-debate blow over Bush’s gaffe on the bin Laden statement he didn’t remember making, and this was the counterpunch to drive that off the front page. By Monday, we’ll have moved on to something new and equally irrelevant to our future.

But that’s all just between you and me. If this got out to some of our more partisan acquaintances, they’d be sputtering the party line in my comments. It’s only you and me that can talk about the two of them in concert, and the cheap and tawdry dance they are both foisting on us (speaking of which, what the hell is up with this lip reading story?)

Now, the bottom line. Is this going to change anyone’s vote? Ha, ha, ha! Well, at least you and I can have a good laugh over this. Because in the long run, that’s about all that’s coming out of it.

There’s 17 days left. How much clock can the two sides eat by focusing on things that don’t matter and throwing heavy mud, in order to avoid talking about the hard things that do matter?