Delayed Reaction

Dick Cheney is an angry father. His words. Apparently, this is a result of John Kerry's use of his daughter Mary Cheney as an example of a homosexual whose parents love, and respect her in the final presidential debate. Personally, I thought the Kerry/Edwards strategy of using Mary Cheney as an example when questions on gay marriage came up during the debates or on the campaign trail was not a good one. I honestly wince whenever I here Kerry or Edwards say her name, and until last week, was waiting for an explosion over at the Bush/Cheney campaign as a result. But, my personal opinions aside, the current "outrage" over Kerry's statements last Wednesday night is ludicrous. Either that, or it just took Bush and Cheney this long to figure out who it was Kerry and Edwards were actually talking about whenever they said Mary Cheney. And since Dick Cheney expressed gratitude towards John Edwards during the VP debate when he said that he was sure the Cheneys love their daughter very much, I doubt the latter is true.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the comments Kerry made on Wednesday night (the ones that made Cheney an "angry father"), were pretty similar to the comments Edwards made during his debate with Dick Cheney (the kind words Cheney thanked Edwards for). It seems to me that there is a term for such waffling that has become quite popular as of late... Ah yes. All together now: FLIP FLOP. Now that I have leveled the most absurd of the Bush/Cheney attacks against Cheney himself, back to the issue at hand.

So why is Dick Cheney all of a sudden so upset? After all, the basis of Kerry's comments were that Mary Cheney is simply being herself, and that he believes the Cheneys love and respect her for who she is. One could make the argument that Dick and Lynne Cheney don't want their daughter being dragged into this dirtiest of campaigns, but from what I have heard, Mary Cheney has been a foot soldier of sorts for Bush/Cheney, and has been publicly campaigning for the ticket. But even if this is not true, shouldn't Cheney have become upset the first time Kerry or Edwards used his daughter in response to a gay rights question? One would think so. Thus, the question of 'why now?' remains unanswered. Unfortunately, I don't know why. But, perhaps -- and this is merely my own hypothesis -- this is the latest attempt by Bush and Cheney to demonize Kerry; to betray him as a man of poor character, and most importantly, someone who does not share common American family values.

Yeah, the "V" word. I could go on for pages about why attacks on a candidate's values do not sit well with me at all, but instead, I will just say that given the public image of the Kerry-Heinz family, it seems to me that Kerry would be pretty in touch with common American family values, and I would be willing to bet that Theresa Heinz-Kerry, and Kerry's two daughters Vanessa and Alexandra would only confirm this. Some might also say that what Kerry says on issues related to families is also a good indicator of personal family values, to which I say expressing respect for families who allow their children to be who they naturally are, and respect and love them for doing so seems like the sign of a man with rather admirable family values. Unfortunately, Dick Cheney does not see eye to eye with me on this one (then again, I'm not sure he sees eye to eye with me on much). He apparently saw John Kerry's comments as a sort of attack on his family. Why else would he be an "angry father?" After all, he saw it fit to attack Kerry on the basis of that statement -- a statement that was meant to be one of kindness and admiration.

I don't know about you, but to me, this is just the latest in the Bush/Cheney smear campaign against John Kerry. Now, I know smear campaigns are to be expected in the heat of a political election season, but this one has had, and continues to have, a blatant disregard for the truth, and, in a way even worse, the issues. And that makes me an angry citizen.