Dick Cheney said that states, not the federal government, should be allowed to decide on the issue of gay marriage.

That was before the re-election campaign got rolling.

Now VP Cheney says he'll support Bush's plan for a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

What the... ?????

'But the chairman of the Colorado Republican Party cautioned people Sunday not to misunderstand the vice president's message.

He said Cheney's position has evolved, given recent court decisions such as November's Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriage is permissible under its constitution.' (Denver Post)

So... once the states started making decisions he decided they shouldn't any more? Or was he lying? Or what, then, Mr. Halaby? Your logic makes no sense. At any rate, Cheney has pulled a good ole political "backpeddlin". A great big "flip flop". Hmmm... didn't they attack Clinton for doing this? Anywhoey... He's reversed his opinion. Wow, that sure was easy. Must not have been a really firm opinion.

If Cheney supported states' rights, Mr. GOP (for those outside the US, the GOP is just another name for the Republican party), to decide but then changed his mind once one of them did start doing so in favour of gays, that shouldn't be looked upon as anti-gay? (That court was still _in_ Massachusetts, Mr. Halaby. It was a Massachusetts court. In Massachusetts. The state. Inside.) In our world, Ted, that looks like "States should be able to decide the legality of gay marriage unless they are for it."

If Mr. Cheney has a problem with it being handled by just a few people in a court instead of by politicians, he should be backing changes to the supreme court systems, not doing the exact same thing to the gay marriage issue but on a Constitutional level. Really, what's the difference? (America's dirty little secret: It's not a democracy. It's a republic. *gasp*) If he doesn't think it truly reflects the will of the people of Massachusetts, then let him put Bush's amendment to a fair vote to see if it truly reflects the will of the nation. I double dog dare you, Dick. Come on, let's have a moment of real democracy and see how it goes. No, he wants it out of the state's hand, now that this is what George and his fundamentalist buddies want, and into the hands of politicians. Which is where politicians seems to think all decisions should lie except for possibly disputes over counting votes in Florida which they're happy to hand over to a court if they don't get their way. 'Activist judges' indeed, George. For all the talk about democracy, Bush and Cheney are probably quite thankful they don't live in one. In a Democracy they would not have won the last election because all votes would have been counted equally. In a Republic, that's not how it works, 'democracy' is just window dressing. But I digress.

So why did Dick change his mind mind stream? How can he look at his daughter Mary and say anything but "I don't fully support you. I choose re-election over your rights and dignity." Mary, his daughter, is on his staff. And openly gay. Dick Cheney once talked up that connection as a way of implying he'd be sensitive to the needs of the gay population*, that he'd somehow temper the right-wing leanings of Dubya. Well, I think it's clear now that it was just a bunch of talk and nothing more. Dick has made it clear that his opinion wasn't true and strong and he'll just go along with whatever the party tells him too.

Now that Dick's thrown his proverbial hat into that ring, he really can't go back (that only happens in movies or on The West Wing). The people Dubya is pandering to are the people whose key tactic is to equate homosexuality with a bunch of bad behaviours so they can then use that as proof (yes, it's circular logic, don't try to get your head around it unless you're a fundamentalist zealot). They're hysterical zealots and they're hoping to scare up some support by frightening people. And there are about 4 million of them, so subtract the maybe 1 million gay Republicans and that's 3 million votes he's hoping to pull in (but he's counting on you to not vote. So we can beat him, y'all!). Here's how it works. A tried and true method for manipulating people's opinions using fear tactics.

Step One: Equate gays, as one Denver Post reader recently regurgitated, with "rape, sex with children, child pornography, murder, assaults, theft, drugs, racism, etc." Don't let the fact that all those things are, by law, crimes in which another is harmed. I'm absolutely certain I have not harmed my lesbian wife of 2 years. And we've certainly broken no laws. In fact, we went out of our way not to break any laws and I, therefore, had to leave the US to be with her. Yeah... we're freakin' monsters... *sigh*

Step Two: Get this repeated in the media as much as possible. ('liberal' media... hah!) If they also pick up on your idiotic rantings about how we're really out to destroy marriage and then have an Ecstacy-fueled naked rave party afterwards, then that can't hurt your cause, now can it. (For the record, I don't want to destroy marriage any more than the next gay couple. I have married friends. Why would I want to destroy their lives? That's stupid. I love them. All we want are the same things the government gives any married couple. It has nothing to do with religion and I couldn't care less about your ceremonies. You can do whatever you want in your church, but stay out of the government.)

Step Three: Sit back and watch the zealots you've trained regurgitate it in their local newspapers and reinforce and spread, through fear, your idea to others. Especially those who don't have facts, only the hate-mongering rhetoric you've been feeding them. After all, you've just made homosexuals out to be heinous criminals. Ma and Pa should be shaking in their fuzzy slippers! Like I've said before, religion, and most especially extremist religion, and government don't and shouldn't mix. Fortunately the US Constitution already contains that clause.

I hope Mary Cheney has the strength and dignity to stand up for herself and people like her. I hope she'll let her father know his behaviour is not acceptable. And I hope she'll recognise that, despite being her dad, maybe he's not the sort of person we need in office. I'm sure emotions are high in the Cheney family right now** and if she decides to quietly back away and support him, we shouldn't judge her too harshly (besides, the right has already judged her and found her to be an 'abomination'). He is her father, after all, and I'm sure she loves him very much. But it remains to be seen how reciprocal his support and love will be... And, seing that he is the second in command of the US government, we shouldn't give him _any_ slack.

So, Mr. Cheney, stop speaking out of both sides of your mouth and show us your true face***. Tell us what you really mean and stop hiding behind your daughter's sexuality, which you clearly don't approve of, and GOP spin doctors who use flawed logic to make your case for you.

Links:
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1885494,00.html
http://volcano.photobucket.com/albums/v11/GreedyDyke/Pictures/marycheney.jpg
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~27772~1887057,00.html