Posted on 10/18/2004 12:21:18 PM PDT by glory2
"Fair Game" From the October 25, 2004 issue: Does John Kerry really think the American people will believe that he singled out Mary Cheney because he "was trying to say something positive about the way strong families deal with this issue?" by William Kristol 10/25/2004, Volume 010, Issue 07
"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." --John Kerry, responding to Bob Schieffer's question, "Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?" in the third debate, October 13, 2004
"I said it in a very respectful way about their love of their daughter. . . . I was saying it in a way that embraced the love of their daughter. . . . All I was trying to do is point out that it--let their daughter speak. Was it a choice, or was she born the way she was? That was the question. I was being respectful, purely respectful." --John Kerry, quoted in the Des Moines Register, October 15, 2004
WAS JOHN KERRY born a shameless and ruthless opportunist, or did he choose to become one? In a way, who cares? Who knows how John Kerry became who he is? What is clear is that he is, as Dick Cheney put it, "a man who will do and say anything to get elected." And what is equally clear is that he shouldn't be elected president of the United States.
Leave aside the cheap, cold, calculating cynicism--and cruelty--in Kerry's appropriation of the alleged opinions of an opposing candidate's family member to try to embarrass his opponent. Leave aside the view Kerry and his campaign must have of millions of religious Americans if they think this particular McCarthyite moment will work. Leave aside their fear of having an honest debate about a legitimate public policy issue--same-sex marriage, the role of liberal judges in advancing it, and the proper response of the elected representatives of the American people. Leave aside the fact that Kerry's alleged opposition to same-sex marriage is manifestly dishonest and cowardly.
Leave it all aside. How stupid does John Kerry think the American people are?
Does he really think they will believe that he singled out Mary Cheney because he "was trying to say something positive about the way strong families deal with this issue?" Does he think they will accept his claim that he was saying something about the Cheneys' "love of their daughter"? Of course, he wasn't. In his answer, he never mentioned or came close to mentioning the Cheney family, or the Cheneys' love. He merely brought up Mary Cheney as a lesbian, out of left field, in order to get her name and sexual orientation into an answer where no such citation was expected, called for, or remotely appropriate. His campaign manager let slip the truth when after the debate she told Fox News's Chris Wallace that Mary Cheney was "fair game."
Kerry's desperate attempt at next-day spin was also revealing. It showed the way he had been supposed to bring up Mary Cheney--the way he and his staff had planned to pull off this maneuver. Kerry was supposed to do what his more skilled and cleverer debating partner, John Edwards, did. He was supposed to sugarcoat his use of Mary Cheney more effectively. Edwards prefaced his answer to Gwen Ifill's same-sex marriage question in the vice-presidential debate with, "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 is a wonderful thing."
But Kerry forgot his lines. And while Cheney had to pretend to accept Edwards's phony, condescending compliment, and everyone else allowed Edwards's deftly exploitative comment go by, Kerry's appropriation of Mary Cheney came in no such lawyerly and sugary packaging. The rawness of his ruthlessness was there for all to see. The Democrats are terrified of a debate on same-sex marriage, and used Mary Cheney to try to brush back the Bush-Cheney ticket from forcing a real policy debate.
No one would blame President Bush for hesitating to engage in such a full-bore debate, partly because he undoubtedly wants to avoid further awkwardness for his running mate and his family. But the rest of the country doesn't have to be intimidated by John Kerry's McCarthyism. They should punish him for it--and also remember that when they vote on November 2, they are choosing between two candidates who have very different social, moral, and cultural outlooks. They should remember that Bush and Kerry will make very different judicial appointments, just as they took opposite stands on the Defense of Marriage Act, which sought to protect states from being forced to recognize other states' same-sex marriages, and on a constitutional amendment. This is a legitimate ground for choice--as is the character revealed by a candidate who did what John Kerry did, with malice aforethought, Wednesday night.
--William Kristol
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Bill Kristol took Juan Williams to the woodshed on Fox's Sunday morning show. Britt Hume was mearly an enterained guest during that particular asswhipping.
I sure hope Juan wears Depends, because lately he has been making a habit out of filling his pants to cover for sKerry.
Yo! MaryBeth Cahill! If it is Politically acceptable to use Mary Cheney in debate about same sex marriage. Then it is acceptable to Use Ted Kennedy as a reason for the death sentence.
Shall I refresh you memory Mary? Does Mary Jo Kopechne ring a bell?
The Democrats are terrified of a debate on same-sex marriage, and used Mary Cheney to try to brush back the Bush-Cheney ticket from forcing a real policy debate.
That is the bigger issue.
Also, this line was hilarious: WAS JOHN KERRY born a shameless and ruthless opportunist, or did he choose to become one? In a way, who cares? Who knows how John Kerry became who he is?
If it's okay to cite Mary Cheney's lifestyle then perhaps it's okay to say that:
Elizabeth Edwards should be commended for giving obestity a new public face and that she should be commended for accepting herself as a fat person.
This is gonna be published on 10/25/04 and you already have it?
Let Kerry's dughter, Vanessa, speak about choices we make in our lives.
Someone ask Vanessa Kerry if she wishes she had been an embryo recently, so her father could have funded her destruction in a lab, so his friend Christopher Reeve could have walked.
LOL.... too true...
The thing is, McCarthey was right.
A true Clintonian excuse, if there ever was one.
I don't always like Kristol, but he hit this one out of the park.
"Bill Kristol took Juan Williams to the woodshed on Fox's Sunday morning show. Britt Hume was mearly an enterained guest during that particular asswhipping."
Yes he did!! He also said that it was O.K. for Sinclair to run the anti-Kerry doumentary since CBS was still using Rather after the forgeries and ABC was still using Koppel after he chose to use Viet Cong witnesses to make his case without ANY input from decorated veterans who were eye wittnesses to the matter. Not more emphatically than I need, just more than i'm used, to.!!!!
I sometimes wonder why Juan shows up every Sunday. Brit takes him to school every time and he ends up looking like a bumbling, stumbling fool.
Yes, McCarthy was right - and I wish you'd spell it right
Sorry Emett. I don't spell so goodly.
Actually what Kerry did was more Clintonesque than from Sen Joe...
Too bad Kerry isn't more like Sen. Joe McCarthy....:)
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