Dick Cheney Does Not Support Gay Marriage. He Supports His Daughter's Gay Marriage

So Dick Cheney has come out in support of gay marriage. Big fucking deal. If anyone thinks that, at his core, Cheney actually cares about homosexuals and their civil rights or lack thereof...I have some cabins in the mountain region of Pakistan they might be interested in buying.

Earlier this week Cheney said he doesn't have "any problems" with same-sex marriages, adding "I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish," and said the issue should be handled at the state level.

Cheney's sudden love and respect for gays is 100% about his daughter Mary, period. Do you honestly think that before she exited the closet, and dating back to his Bush 41 and Nixon days, that he was a passionate proponent of gay rights? If so, I suppose you also think Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay hang out together watching Project Runway while feeding each other fondue?

To be sure, what we're witnessing here is classic self-serving, hypocritical, double-standard, Republican "do as I say not as I do" rationalizations:

"I'm against gay marriage until I learn that my kid's gay"

"I'm anti-abortion until my kid needs one"

"I'm against stem-cell research until it's my relative being ravaged by cancer"

I'm a military hawk until my kid dies in battle"

I'm against plug-pulling until it's my loved one who's rotting in a vegetative state"

I'm pro-guns until it's my husband, wife or kid who gets shot by one"

"I'm all about family values until I'm caught cheating on my wife"

Cheney's support for gay-marriage is the most disingenuous advocacy ever. He's a rabid conservative on every single other social, environmental and fiscal issue, and is no more a genuine fan of gay-marriage than I am a proponent of Joey Buttafuoco-style hetero unions.

Comments

[Palemoon]

Andy Ostroy, BEST POST EVER!!

[jackson1015]

To Andy Ostroy:

THANK YOU....THANK YOU......THANK YOU for stating the obvious. I love how Cheney wants to appear as this compassionate human being all of a sudden. If his own daughter were not gay, he wouldn't care less about gay marriage.

[Paulied]

Many straight people only come to be supportive of gay rights when they realize that someone they love is being discriminated against. At the end of the day, however, who cares how they came to support our rights, as long as they do. The focus of this article's indignation should be on Gingrich who doesn't support gay rights in spite of having a lesbian sister rather than on Cheney who supports gay rights because he has a lesbian daughter.

[JimR]

Yeah, that's undoubtedly true. So what? Many people have not come around to support gay marriage until a friend or family member came out.

It would be a lovely world indeed if everyone accepted gay marriage for all the "right" reasons. But the real world doesn't work like that. If you turn away all supporters who don't pass your "purity" test, it'll be back to square one.

It would be foolish and self-destructive not to take advantage of his comments. You don't have to invite him to speak at any rallies (as if he would go), but you can point out that even an ardent right-winger like Cheney is OK with gay marriage.

[zest]

With the passage of same sex marriage rights in another state, New Hampshire, it appears the culture war against same sex marriage is lost for the conservatives. Being the coward that he is gloming on to the winning side is the only option left for such a character.

[cleveyucks]

Whatever the reason, the fact that he has publicly stated support for same sex marriage makes him more progressive on this issue than the president. Obama should be ashamed.

[montecarlo408]

No it does not! Put it this way. If for some reason (heaven forbid) his daughter passed away, do you HONESTLY think he'd still be for gay marriage? Sometimes, the path to a destination is as important, if not more important, than the destination itself.

Ill-gotten gains anyone?

[HawaiiBill]

Yes, I do think he probably would. Since (I assume) you don't know the Cheneys personally, your absolute certainty about this reveals the lack of the possibility of ANY gray areas in how you think people arrive at their decisions. You might further the dialogue if you stopped slamming doors shut to positive developments.

[Melissa6262]

Obama is still in office; Cheney's not. Odds are Obama is in favor of same sex marriage as well. Which makes them equally progressive deep down, but unfortunately not in office where it counts.

[SEQUOIABISON]

Wow, it must have really pained Dick to come out in support of Gay Marriage, which as you rightly point out Andy, he does not actually support, he supports his daughter, reluctantly, but this bold hypocritical statement was so out of place for this Right Wing intolerant bigot, it stuns the mind of any thinking person to see this man make such a fool of himself by making exceptions to his usual unmistakable homophobic hatred.

[RedKnuckles]

How about another republican rationalization:

"I'm against gay marriage and gay rights *after* I find out *I* am gay."

[cinesimon]

Too right, gawd-darn-it!

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

What your list exemplifies is that it's all about empathy. And maybe we should even get used to the notion that hypocrisy is a precondition for empathy. The hypothesis would be: you need to first get sick of your own hypocrisy (or mendacity) until you can develop some empathy. Just takes some folks an entire lifetime to get there. Remember Big Daddy in 'cat on a hot tin roof?'

[montecarlo408]

That's not true. Although I am Christian, black, and heterosexual, I feel empathy for people who want to be legally joined but have no civil or legal rights in a large portion of this country. You don't have to experience something personally to have empathy. You just have to have a heart.

[Melissa6262]

I agree completely. I'm so sick of people saying the economy is more important at this point than gay marriage. Maybe to them. But as a heterosexual who's not exactly rolling in the dough I still think equality for all Americans is as equally important. And guess what? It doesn't have to be one or the other.

[BobLablah]

I can't imagine anything dumber than turning down support for the gay cause from one of the most conservative politicians ever. I guess that's exactly why the cause keeps losing. Dictators in socialist countries cannot survive without "enemies" to blame for their failures. I guess that applies to democrats in America too. Why not focus on the current/real enemy to the cause, our Beloved President Obama. Whatever happened to repealing don't ask, don't tell?

[tangelan]

I think what Andy is saying is don't be fooled. I'm glad you're so gullible. You see him as a conservative but most see him as a war criminal. The movement will take a pass on Cheney's show of support.

[OverIt]

Exactly!

Cheney is only doing what GOP hypocrites have always done. They only have their "come to J esus" moments on progressive issues --- irony intended --- when it personally affects them or someone they love!

Kinda like Palin "choosing" to carry her pregnancy to term when she found out he had Down Syndrome. Though she would later deny that acknowledging a choice to be made put her in the pro-choice camp.

Or the GOP finally figuring out that teen mothers in need of compasssion should NOT be demonized only after Bristol Palin is knocked up.

The only time nuance or that dirty word of empathy is introduced into their narrow, self-righteous minds is when --- gasp --- they confront these issues not on a theoretical, ideological basis. But in --- double gasp --- REALITY. A realm that is becoming increasingly remote for the GOP.

[BobSF94117]

#1 Dick Cheney can't support his daughter's gay marriage, because his daughter isn't married. Mary and Heather may have had some sort of ceremony -- perhaps even a religious marriage -- but they have done nothing to try to obtain some legally recognized relationship, no marriage in Mass. or California or Canada, and certainly no civil union. The state they choose to reside in is THE MOST ANTI-GAY one when it comes to creating legal ties between members of a same-sex couple. Virginia refuses to even recognize the contracts the two probably have. Mary is relying on her family's prominence to protect her relationship. Heather Poe is relying on the goodwill of the Cheney family (gotta wonder how bright she is).

The only indication that Mary is at all cognizant of the risks her family faces from lack of legal recognition is the fact they she chose to deliver her son in Washington, DC, instead of a hospital closer to home. In DC, she and Heather are both listed on the birth certificate. That would not have happened in Virginia.

The DC policy is, of course, a result of libruls running the place. (Don't tell Mary, she'll flip out!)

[OatmealEater]

With Daddy's oil-royalty income topping $20,000,000 a year and with whatever slush funds gleaned off the war in Iraq, the daughter has nothing to worry about.

[Paulied]

The daughter's wife has PLENTY to worry about without any legal protection.

[DasBoot]

Has anybody else noticed the supreme irony here? Cheney uses his personal background to illustrate his stance on a constitutional issue. In other words, he's doing exactly what his fellow conservatives are trying to bash Sonya Sotomayor for now.

Conservative hypocrisy in action: It's a matter of principle for others, it's a personal matter if it affects me.

I agree with Andy Ostroy. This does not raise my opinion of Cheney one bit.

[llisa]

Cheney doesn't even support his lesbian daughter. He tolerates her homosexuality.

He said that her homosexuality was something that his family has had to live with for a long time.

As if it was an illness like dementia or cancer.

This is not support. It is tolerance only.