Posted on 11/18/2013 9:49:51 AM PST by SeekAndFind
I’m tempted to call this a clever Cheney family ploy to burnish Liz’s conservative credentials ahead of her primary against Mike Enzi, except … Enzi’s opposed to gay marriage too. It may help her pass a tea-party litmus test but it doesn’t actually gain her anything against the incumbent. On the contrary, all the attention to this subject is likely to remind Wyoming conservatives not only that the Cheney family is notably pro-gay among Republican royalty — Dick Cheney’s other daughter is herself married to a woman — but that Liz herself was widely assumed to be pro-SSM based on things she’s said in the past. Either (a) everyone misunderstood her position before, (b) she’s an exceedingly rare example of someone who used to support gay marriage but has since “evolved” in the other direction, or (c) her endorsement of traditional marriage on “Fox News Sunday” is just an empty pander to tea partiers.
Here’s Heather Poe, who’s married to Liz’s sister Mary, responding to her opposition of SSM yesterday on Facebook. I wonder which of the three explanations above she favors.
I was watching my sister-in-law on Fox News Sunday (yes Liz, in fifteen states and the District of Columbia you are my sister-in-law) and was very disappointed to hear her say “I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage.”
Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 – she didn’t hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us.
To have her now say she doesn’t support our right to marry is offensive to say the least
I can’t help but wonder how Liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other.
I always thought freedom meant freedom for EVERYONE.
Mary Cheney, Liz’s sister and Poe’s spouse, replied, “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Legit sibling feud or campaign charade aimed at highlighting Liz’s ostensible social conservatism? The NYT thinks it’s the former:
The situation has deteriorated so much that the two sisters have not spoken since the summer, and the quarrel threatens to get in the way of something former Vice President Dick Cheney desperately wants — a United States Senate seat for Liz…
People who have spoken to Liz Cheney say she is irritated that her sister is making their dispute public and believes it is hypocritical for Mary Cheney to take such a hard line now, given that she worked for the re-election of President Bush, an opponent of same-sex marriage…
Mary Cheney, 44, said in a phone interview Sunday that she presumed her sister shared her father’s views on marriage, and that view was reinforced because Liz Cheney “was always very supportive” of her relationship with Ms. Poe and the couple’s two children. She learned otherwise in August when Liz Cheney declared, shortly after announcing her Senate candidacy, that she was opposed to same-sex marriage rights. Mary Cheney said it is now “impossible” for the sisters to reconcile as long as Liz Cheney maintains that position.
“What amazes me is that she says she’s running to be a new generation of leader,” Mary Cheney said, citing her 47-year-old sister’s slogan in her campaign against Mr. Enzi, 69. “I’m not sure how sticking to the positions of the last 20 or 30 years is the best way to do that.”
That last paragraph is the killer, since one of Liz’s big headaches in the primary is reassuring primary voters that she’s a bona fide conservative and a bona fide Wyomingite. Enzi and his surrogates, like Rand Paul, have needled her about her east-coast pedigree, knowing that calling her authenticity into question on one point may lead voters to question it on the other. Liz’s counter to all that is that the Senate needs new blood; now here comes Mary Cheney to question whether Liz’s supposed advantage over Enzi — youth and fresh thinking — is much of an advantage after all. Result: Some social-con voters may doubt whether Liz is really as much a supporter of traditional marriage as she says and others may doubt whether she’s really that much different from Enzi. Not a good place to be — especially with Enzi getting good press lately for his early skepticism of ObamaCare and reaching out to tea partiers by publishing op-eds at sites widely read by grassroots conservatives.
Here’s what she said yesterday, and beneath it is what she said in 2009. She never explicitly says in the latter that she supports legalizing gay marriage, but she does say that her “family” endorses the idea that “freedom means freedom for everyone” — the very words that Poe threw back at her in yesterday’s Facebook post. Draw your own conclusions about what her position was at the time.
could be
You would think so but that’s not the tactic of the gay rights movement. The left creates a ‘false choice’: i.e. allow same sex alignments OR be a hater; allow free birth control Or be a hater; allow single payer socialized medicine OR... you get the idea.
It certainly wouldn't surprise me. Liz had no qualms about accepting Heather as Mary's "wife" in the past, and will probably be celebrating their "marriage" and the children's "two mommies" the next time she's over at their house. To now claim she's "standing up for traditional marriage" even though it "upsets" her sister plays right into her campaign image as a courageous "fighter".
In 2013, she does. From 2007-2012, she was all for celebrating it, and said so publicly on multiple occasions.
Liz Cheney has been pushing gay marriage, and homosexualizing the military for years, she supports the state department gay marriage actions, she opposed DOMA and a constitutional amendment, she has never, during all of her years of politics and TV appearances, including joining the Romney campaign in 2008, ever voiced a pro-life position, until this campaign.
Suddenly, to hide years of Liz advocating for gay marriage, suddenly the Cheneys have their first public feud, getting out the news that they are fighting over gay marriage because Liz is against it.
This Romney campaigning 101.
Unlike Enzi, the 46-year-old daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney supports the right for states to legalize gay marriage. At least that’s what she said in 2009, in an interview with MSNBC, of all places. At that was a time when the notion of same-sex marriage had considerably less support.
And that has even Daily Kos writer Scott Welch offering at least limited praise for Liz Cheney. Cheney, Welch writes:
“”Well, look I think, you know, my family has been very clear about this, that we think freedom means freedom for everybody and that this is an issue that states have to decide for themselves.””
“”She went on to reiterate opposition to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, expressed support for the State Department’s extension of benefits to same-sex couples, and said, ‘I think it’s wrong to discriminate, in those relationships, based on someone’s sexual preference.’ Additionally, she supported repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.””
I’d love to have the intelligent, articulate voice of conservatism that Liz Cheney brings to the national media. I’ve never heard Enzi speak in public or on the Sunday morning shows, so he really hasn’t been helping the cause as much as Liz Cheney could, especially with women and young people.
Then let her rejoin Fox News and continue her career as a commentator.
Cheny’s “mate” is one nasty looking dude.
“My SIL is gay and is “married.” Our family loves these 2 women, our kids love them, but just because we want them to be happy and not lonely doesn’t mean we support their lifestyle or SSM.”
Bingo. I hope Liz wins just to spite that femi-leza-nazi.
“To have her now say she doesn’t support our right to marry is offensive to say the least”
so she believes in your right to stay together as a couple, and maybe she even supports or would support civil partnership laws so that as a couple they can protect their common and shared interests as married couples do, but she just doesn’t think any of that requires we redefine marriage, in law or socially
Funny she didn't say that at the time. She was more than happy to celebrate Mary's "marriage" at the time and give it her blessing, but now retroactively says she doesn't believe in it.
No, you’re right.
I don’t believe Lynne Cheney supports same-sex marriage, either.
Dick and Lynne Cheney both affirmed their support for gay marriage on The View:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/dick-and-lynne-cheney-support-gay-marriage-on-the
That could be part of the purpose of Liz, to counter conservative females like Palin.
Liz Cheney would be a conservative sounding female voice, yet as a rino Romney supporter type, she is liberal on social issues, being pro-choice and strongly pro-gay agenda.
See post 25.
The Cheney family is a political unit, and this charade shames and reveals the entire family as lacking moral fiber, no wonder they are all so lefty on the gay agenda.
And to what degree does that affect your decision when choosing a senator?
Is that the most important thing? number five or number fifty?
We were making too much progress with this Obamacare fiasco.
Time for an “Own Goal” on social-issue bullsh!t...
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