[BlackGriffen]

It doesn't happen very often, so savor the moment. Cheney broke with Bush on the gay marriage issue (somewhat) to whit:

DAVENPORT, Iowa (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday that he does not personally support a constitutional amendment against gay marriage but accepts President Bush's decision to pursue such a ban as administration policy.
[...]
"My general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone. People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want," Cheney, 63, said in response to a question at a campaign "town hall" meeting in Davenport, Iowa.
[...]

Props to Cheney for sticking to his beliefs, even if he has decided not to stand up for them for the sake of solidarity in the administration.

This leads naturally to the question: does this hurt or help Bush to have Cheney voicing an independent view on this? On the one hand, it could make some view the administration as more moderate. On the other hand, it gives license to those with the same stance as Cheney to deflect criticism ("My views are the same as the VP's"). It hurts party solidarity, giving other Republicans who oppose Bush on this license to do so openly.

Considering how tightly scripted the Bush admin campaign stops are, one of two things happened: one, a person who was supposed to ask a scripted question tossed it in favor of another (something I'm surprised that others aren't doing, even in the face of unenforceable loyalty oaths); or two, the anti-gay-marriage issue hasn't panned out for the Bush administration, and this is a sign of them giving up.

Also, from another thread, this would make the Guiliani supporting gays issue with replacing Cheney on the ticket a little more moot.

BlackGriffen

[Lerkfish]

Well, you may not realize Cheney's daughter is a lesbian and is working on the Bush campaign. She's very upfront about it.

Log Cabin Republicans and all that.

[MacGorilla]

Wow...go....uh Cheney.

[macvillage.net]

Cheney != Bush.

Cheney's just willing to be his lap dog.

But in no way equal.

Cheney's got some brains.

Cheney's a bit more corrupt (as if anyone hasn't noticed).

Cheney's not nearly as much of an extremist.

Cheney isn't a religious zelot.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Edit: missed Lerk's post. Same point, but it deserves repeating.

[BlackGriffen]

Originally posted by Lerkfish:
Well, you may not realize Cheney's daughter is a lesbian and is working on the Bush campaign. She's very upfront about it.

Log Cabin Republicans and all that.

I realize that. I'm just praising Cheney, basically for agreeing with me. I'm not too surprised at his opinion, more his willingness to state it publicly when it contradicts the administration's position. It seems rather uncharacteristic.

At any rate, I'm just calling it as I see it. Kudos to Cheney on this issue - even his gruffness is right from time to time.

BlackGriffen

[mo]

The Family Research Council issued a statement criticizing Cheney:

"Unfortunately, protection of our values is made more difficult when mixed messages emanate from the White House," said Tony Perkins, the group's president. "We support President Bush's commitment to a constitutional amendment on marriage, but we are left to wonder why the vice president is allowed to depart from this position when the top of the ticket is unified on all other issues."

Kind of a man-bites-dog news item.

[Secret__Police]

Didn't Lynne Cheney write some lesbian porn back in the day??

[chris v]

Originally posted by Secret__Police:
Didn't Lynne Cheney write some lesbian porn back in the day??

Not exactly porn, but sort of R rated romance. extremely hard to find. Someone (insert conspiracy theory here) has bought up ALL available copies, and now it fetches upwards of $1000.00 on ebay, on the rare occasion one surfaces.

[Troll]

Zim should do a "10 out 10 gay bashers are voting for Bush" sig.

[MacGorilla]

Originally posted by chris v:
Not exactly porn, but sort of R rated romance. extremely hard to find. Someone (insert conspiracy theory here) has bought up ALL available copies, and now it fetches upwards of $1000.00 on ebay, on the rare occasion one surfaces.

I heard a Canadian publisher is putting the book back in print.

[OSX Abuser]