What Kerry DIDN'T Call Her

Did anyone else notice what is significant by its absence in the following Kerry quote?

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.

Do you give up?

It is the name of the Cheney daughter, Mary Cheney, who is (and has been for years) an "out" lesbian. Kerry was so intent upon using her for her own nefarious political purposes that he was unwilling to call her by name. To have done so would have required him (and the audience) to focus on her as a human being, not as a sexual orientation. It is therefore clear that the comment had nothing to do with a desire to make life better for Mary (a staffer on the Bush/Cheney campaign, by the way), but was instead simply a tool. He gave no respect, and in response deserves only contempt.

Imagine if the question had instead been about the War on Drugs, and Kerry had said this instead.

And I think if you were to talk to your brother Jeb's daughter, who is a drug addict, she would tell you that . . . .

We all know there would have been hell to pay. It would have been cold, heartless and manipulative to air someone's family laundry. And to refuse to show the basic respect implicit in using her name would be seen as outrageous.

I won't even get into Elizabeth Edwards' reprehensible attack on Lynne Cheney. I guess it is true that bad breeding will show at awkward moments. I'll be voting to take out the trash on November 2.

UPDATE: A friend emailed me regarding the initial reference to Mary Cheney's sexual orientation during the Vice Presidential Debate. He said that he didn't think Edwards mentioned her name, either. Sure enough, when I checked out the transcript here's what I found.

Now, as to this question, 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.

So that makes twice that Kerry and Edwards have indecently used Mary Cheney's sexual orientation for campaign purposes without even having the decency to use her name.

Kerry Contradiction

Did anyone notice the following two statements by Kerry on religion during the debate. They came only a few seconds apart, but completely contradict each other.

First he chanted the traditional liberal mantra about not imposing his faith on others.

I believe that I can't legislate or transfer to another American citizen my article of faith. What is an article of faith for me is not something that I can legislate on somebody who doesn't share that article of faith.

But then he came back a few sentences later with this.

My faith affects everything that I do, in truth. There's a great passage of the Bible that says, "What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead."

And I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith, but without transferring it in any official way to other people.

That's why I fight against poverty. That's why I fight to clean up the environment and protect this earth.

That's why I fight for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith.

Now hold on. He won't impose any "article of faith" on others, but he fights against poverty and for equality, justice and the environment out of the fundamental teaching and belief of his faith. But doesn't that mean he is seeking to impose those things on Americans who disagree with his approach to and definition of equality (such as on homosexual marriage or affirmative action), justice (ditto), and the right of man to have dominion over the earth in order to subdue it? Doesn't that mean he is seeking to impose his religion-based belief on those he wants to tax at higher levels in order to fund programs for the poor?

The two positions are contradictory -- and can be reconciled only if you accept that he doesn't really have a religious objection to abortion, and therefore has no problem with imposing his beliefs upon the rest of us.

I also liked the brief moment of Kerry candor and honesty when he referred to abortion as "some other right that's given under our courts today". After all, it isn't in the Constitution.

But my favorite moment of the night came when President Bush started to attack Kerry's use of "two leading national news networks" as experts on the intricacies of his Medicare proposal --

In all due respect, I'm not so sure it's credible to quote leading news organizations about — oh, never mind.

GOP Requests End To Liberal Terrorism

The following was sent to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney by Gov. Marc Racicot, Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Chairman.

Mr. John Sweeney
President
AFL-CIO
815 16th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
October 11, 2004

Dear Mr. Sweeney:

Over the past several weeks, acts of violence and vandalism have occurred at Republican and Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters across the country. In addition to the injuries, property damage and disruption associated with these acts, these events have created a threatening and intimidating atmosphere abhorrent to our democratic process.

On October 5th, according to news reports, witnesses, police reports and admissions of your members, the AFL-CIO, as part of a national strategy, protested at more than a dozen of our campaign and party headquarters across the country. In many locations, the protestors attempted to enter, or entered, campaign or party facilities. As one protestor said, "Actually, we're storming into an office." In Orlando, Florida, injuries and damage were sustained. Protestors forced their way into the facility, fracturing the arm of one staffer, and vandalized the office. In Michigan, protestors entered a headquarters and engaged in activities apparently intended to disrupt volunteers trying to make phone calls.

Protests by your organization come on the heels of several other incidents at Bush-Cheney '04 offices around the country, including a break-in at our Seattle office where laptop computers were stolen from the Washington State Bush-Cheney ’04 executive director and the state Republican Party 72-hour director. Just last night in Canton, Ohio, a Bush-Cheney '04 staffer was forced to lock herself in an office while another break-in was in progress. The facility was seriously damaged and property was stolen. Additionally, gun shots have been fired into Bush-Cheney '04 offices in West Virginia, Florida and Tennessee, windows broken in West Virginia and campaign staffers threatened. In Wisconsin, a supporter of the President had a swastika burned into his front yard simply because he had a Bush-Cheney '04 lawn sign. We urge your support in helping us ensure the safety of all individuals working on our campaign and others as we are making every effort to secure the safety of all participants in the political process.

I hope you will put an end to protest activities that have led to injuries, property damage, vandalism and voter intimidation. We will hold you and your organization accountable for the actions of your members and urge you to immediately discontinue any coordinated protest efforts that result in damage to our facilities, or injury to people who may hold different political views than your members, but who share an equal right to be involved in the political process without suffering violence, intimidation and threats.

Respectfully,

Gov. Marc Racicot, Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Chairman

We must act to stop these acts of terrorism. We must be prepared to defend ourselves against those who would violate our civil right (make that HUMAN RIGHT) to participate in the electoral process in this country. And if attacked, we must be prepared to do so by any means necessary -- including the use of deadly force. Sadly, I fear we live in a time during which a small number of Democrats and their supporters have made the full exercise of our rights under the Second Amendment a political imperative if we are to preserve our nation.

Libertarian Debate Case Advances

Last week I commented on a Libertarian Party suit to stop the third presidential debate if their candidate is not included. Well, guess what. They've actually gotten a court hearing and a court order compelling Arizona State University and the Commission on Presidential Debates to respond to the suit in court tomorrow, October 12. Given that the university still has not raised private funds to cover the debate expenses makes it hard to argue that the debate will not be conducted using public funds.

I think the Libertarians have a point about the heavy-handed actions of the Commission. Get these quotes from the article.

An attorney for the university accepted service, but security guards at the commission's headquarters in Washington ordered process-servers to leave the building, Mr. Euchner said.

and

Indeed, Mr. Badnarik and the Green Party nominee, David Cobb, were arrested Friday night after they crossed a police line at the presidential debate in St. Louis. Mr. Badnarik said he was trying to serve the lawsuit on a representative of the debate commission. The two candidates were released after being given tickets for trespassing and refusing a reasonable order from a policeman.

and

In August, a federal judge in Washington sharply criticized the Federal Election Commission for ignoring evidence of bias on the part of the debate commission. Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. noted that in 2000 the debate commission gave security guards "facebooks" with pictures of third-party candidates and instructed the guards to prevent those in the photos from entering the debate venues, even with valid audience tickets. "The exclusion policy appears partisan on its face," Judge Kennedy wrote.

Seems to me that the debate commission operates in a pretty heavy-handed way. Here's hoping they get slapped down hard.

Anti-Catholic Kerry Campaign?

The folks over at Blogs for Bush wrote on this item last night. Talk about an outrage!

For the entire story arc, you need to go to The Meandering Mind of a Seminarian to see how a group of Catholic seminarians (in Roman collar) and supporters were treated when they attempted to enter the Americas Center in St. Louis for a Kerry event for which they had tickets. Even when they offered to leave thei signs with security, they were still denied entry -- perhaps because of their religion(?). And so many liberals claim that the Kerry campaign doesn't screen their events.


From part one of the report. Notice that a letter from the ACLU, which is supposed to be like Scripture to a liberal, has no effect on Kerry campaign staff.

After a longer wait a young lady claiming to be a staff member of the Kerry/Edwards campaign approached. She asked to see the signs, so we showed them to her. As soon as she realized that the signs said things such as "You CANT be Catholic and pro-choice. She said that we would be unable to enter with the signs. I produced a document from the ACLU that said otherwise. At this point we began to be accosted by various Kerry supporters. They were right up in my face, screaming and yelling. With their arms flailing they informed me that I was not welcome there. Others screamed "Who are you to tell me that my daughter who was raped cannot have an abortion." We remained calm and prayerful.

From part two detailing what happened outside including when the tolerant, pro-gay Kerry supporters exited. COuld you imagine the uproar if conservatives hurled such epithets at a group -- the homosexual lobby would be in an uproar.

We split up to cover both entrances to the building, and we commenced our pro-life witness. As people entered the building they hurled insults at us, and one person tore up one of our signs and proclaimed that we were nothing but a bunch of “pedophile hookers.” She was a great representative for the Kerry/Edwards supporters; she showed us what “tolerance” – a supposed virtue of Kerry supporters – is all about.

and

When the event was over Kerry supporters poured out of the building just as fast as the obscenities and ridicule poured out of their drunken mouths (yes, many of them were rather intoxicated). We were hailed as pedophile hypocrites who needed to clean our own house before we tell them what to do. We were accused of being the scum of the Catholic Church and homosexuals. We were accused of harboring criminals and being oppressive of women and African Americans. We had some “homosexuals for Kerry” stand in front of us and make out…that was a great photo-op for many of the Kerry supporters. Needless to say it was a very ugly scene, but during it all we remained calm and prayerful – which infuriated them all the more.

The blog owner also supplies a way to contact the Kerry campaign about the incident. Tell them what you think!

If you would like to voice a complaint about what I wrote about below the person to contact is:

Mr. Rick Siger

901 15th St. NW

Washington DC 20005

(202) 682-3500

Good job, folks!