Heads Up

I should have an op-ed in the YDN tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then probably Monday. Developing...

UPDATE: Okay, Monday I guess. Meanwhile, check out Jamie Kirchick's column on the Mary Cheney non-controversy. Money quote:

And so what if John Kerry "used" Mary Cheney for political purposes? What about the policies of this administration, which have in every sense of the word "used" millions of gay people as a wedge issue to shore up the evangelical base of the Republican Party? Talk about a "cheap and tawdry political trick."

When Bob Schieffer asked the candidates about their wives, he was implicitly referring to the fact that both men are heterosexual. The question was pointless and a waste of time, but no one considered it offensive. Yet somehow, John Kerry's statement that Mary Cheney's being a lesbian is not abnormal (contra the belief of many Republicans) has made the vice president "a very angry father" and his wife Lynne "a pretty indignant mom." Perhaps if the Kerry campaign were as on-message as the folks writing the Cheneys' talking points, the senator from Massachusetts would be faring better in the polls [emphasis mine].

The Cheneys are "very angry" and "indignant," respectively, because Kerry affirmed the dignity of their gay daughter. Where was their public outrage when Jim Demint called their daughter unfit to teach school in South Carolina, or when Alan Keyes (directly) called Mary Cheney a "selfish hedonist," or when John Cornyn compared Mary Cheney's love for her partner to turtle-fucking, or when Congressman Thune's supporters sent out stickers reading "Vote for Daschle & Vote for SODOMY," or when the RNC sent out flyers warning Arkansas voters that the Democrats wanted to take away their Bibles and hold gay marriages in their backyards, or when...or when...fuck it. There are too many examples. The Republican party openly embraces hatred of gay people. It's part of their 2004 platform. Dick Cheney sells out Mary Cheney every day he runs for vice president with George Bush.

If Dick Cheney has any cause to be upset, it's at himself, for being a terrible father. If this conclusion seems harsh, I suggest you reconsider the facts of the case. The closest analogue in American politics is Strom Thurmond, father of a biracial daughter and lifelong segregationist.