etherpunk about this one...seems VP Dick Cheney came under fire for some comments he made about gay marriage. Now, before you make any assumption, get this:"Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it's an issue our family is very familiar with," Cheney told an audience that included his daughter. "With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone ... People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to. The question that comes up with the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that's been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made that fundamental decision of what constitutes a marriage," he said.A fairly ballsy thing to say, considering the Bush campaign stance of a Constitutional amendment against gay marriage.
Now, we got to talking about this, and figure it's gotta be one of two things: either it's a ballsy campaign move, betting on attracting the gay vote, or it's a ballsy move on his part to show that he's not a complete stooge. If the latter, he gets major props from me for standing on his own two feet in the face of partisan politics...something few politicians have the balls to do. If the former, well, I wouldn't be surprised. It would be a risky move, but one that would be worth the fallout later if it worked - attracting the gay vote with a feeling that Bush's extreme tactics would be softened by a "voice of reason' or something.
Frankly, I want to give the man kudos for even saying this much, and I hate to sound suspicious, but this is politics, after all, and we're closing in on election time. It's just the time and place to make any comments you can, no matter who you are, to try and get those last votes on your side. I just question the motives, that's all: lip service is lip service, and without action behind it, it rings hollow. How much has he worked towards "freedom means freedom for everyone' all this time?
Will be interesting to see if any further developments come out of this.