(no subject)

[judecorp]

I am so tired of hearing about Dick Cheney's daughter. She is not the only homo in the United States, people! I realize she's a bit of a "touchpoint" for the Reps or whatever, but dear gods give it a rest. Why ask President Bush what he thinks about Ms. Cheney? That makes it a ONE PERSON ISSUE.

Crikey.

Comments

WWDCDD????

[ktmcda.livejournal.com]

I found that SO ANNOYING too.

How daft. :-( When Kerry started down that road I was like, SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!!! Don't reveal how stupid you are!!!

Somewhere, Dick Cheney's daughter rolled her eyes last night.

Re: WWDCDD????

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It just seems so counterproductive. I mean, here he is talking about how all of TEH GAYS need equal rights for hospital visitation and all of that, but then brings up marriage and Dick Cheney's daughter. Dude, if only ONE PERSON was getting screwed out of rights, that would be the least of our national problems.

[lemur68.livejournal.com]

I don't know--I think it's important that folks are reminded as often as possible that Dick Cheney would sell out his own immediate family out of allegiance to the Republican Party's base.

[hoo.livejournal.com]

And that's who Kerry was speaking to, the Republican Party base. Bringing up Mary Cheney again isn't going to change anyones vote between Bush and Kerry, but it might dissuade some of Bush's far right supporters from voting at all. Think of it as this elections version of the 'brown baby' push-polls that Bush used against McCain in the 2000 primaries.

Kerry already has the vote of anyone who's going to get offended by his comment. He was talking to all those extra-Christian Republicans who send (or would like to send) their kids off to de-homosexuality boot camps.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, Cheney's been more of a fence-sitter on some of the amendment things than his bossy boss.

And while I agree that the sell-out is (somewhat) important, I think it takes the focus away from the actual issue, and that's the SHEER NUMBERS of people who are affected by this issue.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I thoguht that too, and was a bit disappointed in Kerry for bringing it up--again. I can't tell if he's trying to expose Republican hypocrisy or just befuddle Bush into getting angry on camera (again).

What no one seems to be willing to admit is that marriage is a legal issue, while matrimony is the one that's "holy" and has "sanctity". Churches should be able to refuse to marry people, not governments, dammit!

[thatpatti.livejournal.com]

amen. :)

[livinganthology.livejournal.com]

Well said. Very well said.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You are so damned right.

[thatpatti.livejournal.com]

i found it really awkward when kerry brought that up. it just seemed really weird and out of place.

[mayna.livejournal.com]

He's also weird about it in that he says marriage is between a man and a woman, but what's all that babble about equal rights? (when one is in the hospital, that sort of thing, that he talks about).

And Bush... he says marriage is between a man and a woman, but then he babbles about tolerance. Tolerance... for a constitutional amendment?

But neither of them really give a clear picture of anything.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there was a point in there somewhere... I just don't see it.

[sudrin.livejournal.com]

I'm going to take a counter viewpoint here. Often in politics, or society for that matter we seem to need "Tokens" to represent said society as a whole. Dick Cheney is part of an Administration that is clearly Anti-Gay. Whatever else they call it, passing amendments against Gay Marriage say "Gay Marriage is Bad" the same way laws against Rape or Theft say those things are bad too. You don't pass laws against things that are good or wholesome. The reality as I see it, as a straight male is that often times people can take a stance against Gay marriage, or ANYTHING Gay for that matter, if you don't have any exposure to it. As a Gay woman its no doubt easy for you to see it from an "Inside view", but for a large portion of the US I think its just something they don't ever deal with so its easy for them to say "Gay Marriage Bad!' It was clear to me from the Vice Presidential Debate that Cheney, having a Gay Daughter is more in touch with it than President Bush, but when he was asked about it, he was not able to make statements counter to his Administration or his Bosses view. I can tell you with all honesty that until *I* was made more aware of Homosexuality by knowing gay people IN MY OWN LIFE I would have easily supported such a terrible thing. Its only coming to know people, and see first hand that its not some kind of perversion or back room deviancy. Looking back I'm ashamed to think that I was ever like that, but the fact of the matter is that only by exposing it to people do you learn some of the most important lessons in life. Yeah, I'm sure its not cool that they keep "trotting" her out as the "token" lesbian, but at the same time I think it helps more than it hurts.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I think Tokenizing hurts, period.

In a lot of ways, a token is worse than a stereotype, because at least a stereotype is supposedly based on observations of a whole number of people. The problem with a token is that it focuses all of the energy and oppression on ONE individual, which lessens the severity of the issue.

After all, if only one person is oppressed (like poor Mary Cheney), that's not nearly as dire as potentially 10% of the population.

Also, if we keep minority populations invisible, reaching people only through one token individual, the common public is NEVER going to become aware of and introduced to them. It's a lot harder to do six degrees of one Kevin Bacon than one in ten Kevin Bacons.

[scottopic.livejournal.com]

You have to give them a break. Mary Cheney is probably the only ghey that Bush has encountered outside of television shows and throwing eggs at him.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

I love that you said 'ghey.'

On the debate ...

[lickingtoad.livejournal.com]

My immediate thought, when confronted with that kind of hypocrisy (in particular last night, again) was "Oh, they'll be happy so long as we call it something other than 'marriage.'" I've heard the view espoused from people I respect, as well.

On its heels was "Brown v. Board of Education? 'Seperate but equal is bullshit?' Gosh, I thought we'd settled that."

Boils my potato, Mama. Boils it hard.

Re: On the debate ...

[dyketit.livejournal.com]

i think the benefits could be the same without the name being the same though. i dont care if i get "married" or "gayed" as long as i get the same rights

[biophile6.livejournal.com]

Last night I spent 15 minutes defending why same sex couples would make for a better home in raising kids, than like, more than half of American households. Some families are just not appropriate for kids.

Unfortunately its getting also tiring to me. If this quasi-conservative date this weekend doesnt bag it, shes gonna get ditched. Its draining. I agree.

Hugs for you, Jude KeironWalker.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

The great thing about same-sex couples that choose to bring children into their families is that they have to plan so carefully and for so long that you can tell with (almost) absolute certainty that their children are wanted.

I like that. :)

[00solstice.livejournal.com]

That makes it a ONE PERSON ISSUE.

That was my thought exactly.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Steve, all of this political agreeing is really starting to scare me.

[carina-s.livejournal.com]

You mean there are OTHER gay people in the United States?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I SURE HOPE NOT!!!

[folkyboy.livejournal.com]

yeah i thought it was a bit of low blow, to be honest. Kerry shouldn't have done that. but whatever...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Stooping. To. Their. Level.

[dyketit.livejournal.com]

who asked bush about her? i think im lost.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

John Kerry.

[livinganthology.livejournal.com]

I was so irate when I hear that. To avoid raising my blood pressure, I listened to the debates on the radio instead of watching them (actually I was in the car, but I wasn't going to watch them at all for said reason, and the car ended up being a way to cheat!) and I literally gasped and swore.

The exploitation of the token homosexual isn't exactly pertinent to the issue. If Bush wasn't the opponent, I would have seriously considered Kerry losing my vote. I feel like Kerry just wants ignorant Republicans to know the Cheney's PR person and daughter is a lesbian. Taa-key!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I also think Kerry was using the bringing up of Mary Cheney to take some of the heat off himself. It was a smokescreen. Because he's been so noncommittal on GLBT issues, he is being criticized. So instead, he points out a grosser hypocrisy in the current administration, thereby deflecting the blame.

Gross.

[jeffholton.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dunno.

Bob Dole got to make a whole Pepsi commercial on how he felt about Britney Spears. Why not spread the joy?

Ok, ok....I see your point.

"Down, boy."

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thinking about that Bob Dole/Britney commercial /still/ cracks me up!

[peaceorchestra.livejournal.com]

OMG. THERE'S OTHER GAYS IN AMERICA?! *gasp*

So shocking!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Gay? What's gay, Mommy?