Is Mary Cheney "Fair Game" ?
The obvious answer to that question should be no. However if you are the candidate for the Democratic party that answer is obviously yes, and if you are the campaign manager for that candidate the answer is again obviously yes.
Let me put politics aside for a moment, as I believe this is not simply a political issue. It is an issue of honor, principle and common decent manners. Character if you will.
An honorable man does not utilize the children of one's opponent for political gain, anymore than a honorable man would intentionally slander and smear the millions of members of the armed services that participated in Vietnam. An honorable man would understand the unwritten and unspoken boundaries that disallow the use of someone's child in order to score political points. For over 30 years however, John Kerry's lust for power has led him repeatedly to violate honor, and principle. As a matter of principle one does not stand up on the Senate floor and give a personal story that is "seared, seared" into his memory of a completely bogus event. Most people call that lying.
An honorable party that has honorable differences with the other political party does not have campaign managers equate the going after another human being with the hunting of animals. I suppose however that a candidate who is so clueless as to take his trusty 12 gauge and belly crawl to hunt deer would be completely unable to grasp the difference in hunting deer and hunting humans, and is likely at a complete loss as to why his campaign managers verbal diarrhea is completely inappropriate. As clueless as he was to bring Mary Cheney into the debate to begin with.
Next we come to what should be common decent manners, something that seems in short supply not just now, but since those turbulent times of the 60's. Good manners by itself would dictate that one would not, in a very public manner, speak of someone else's personal life who has not given you permission to do so. It should come as no shock to anyone that Vice President Cheney has a daughter who is a lesbian, her parents have spoken of it at various times. However one imagines that she has spoken to her parents regarding this and was comfortable enough in the fact that they love her and would not deliberately hurt her, particularly in a public manner and would have given her parents permission to speak of her and her life. She did not give John Kerry any such permission. A man who has raged that the Patriot Act allows the government to go into your private life had no compunction in discussing the personal life of a private American citizen in front of millions of American's. Apparently John Kerry has upsurped the right to delve into the private life of anyone he deems politically advantageous to himself, thus the man who wishes to appear as the great defender of private life and personal liberties is unable to control himself enough to actually live the principles he so easily mouths. Shocking I know.
This should not be seen as an impulsive moment. There is nothing impulsive about John Kerry, he coldly calculates stratagems that he can utilize in his quest for political power. Who can think of any other serviceman who took the time to have a camera at hand so they could recreate scenes of combat to later to be used, however many years later, to bolster his self image of a heroic combat vet.
Then of course there is Mrs. Edwards characterizing the upset this has caused as the Cheney's being ashamed of their daughter, apparently it never occurred to her that it is nearly universally instinctual for parents to protect their children instead of using throwing them to the political wolves who smile as they call the child of their political opponent "Fair Game" I suppose to wolves anything is fair game when one is hungry enough.
I leave you with a quote from Samuel Adams, fiery patriot.
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779
Red
Let me put politics aside for a moment, as I believe this is not simply a political issue. It is an issue of honor, principle and common decent manners. Character if you will.
An honorable man does not utilize the children of one's opponent for political gain, anymore than a honorable man would intentionally slander and smear the millions of members of the armed services that participated in Vietnam. An honorable man would understand the unwritten and unspoken boundaries that disallow the use of someone's child in order to score political points. For over 30 years however, John Kerry's lust for power has led him repeatedly to violate honor, and principle. As a matter of principle one does not stand up on the Senate floor and give a personal story that is "seared, seared" into his memory of a completely bogus event. Most people call that lying.
An honorable party that has honorable differences with the other political party does not have campaign managers equate the going after another human being with the hunting of animals. I suppose however that a candidate who is so clueless as to take his trusty 12 gauge and belly crawl to hunt deer would be completely unable to grasp the difference in hunting deer and hunting humans, and is likely at a complete loss as to why his campaign managers verbal diarrhea is completely inappropriate. As clueless as he was to bring Mary Cheney into the debate to begin with.
Next we come to what should be common decent manners, something that seems in short supply not just now, but since those turbulent times of the 60's. Good manners by itself would dictate that one would not, in a very public manner, speak of someone else's personal life who has not given you permission to do so. It should come as no shock to anyone that Vice President Cheney has a daughter who is a lesbian, her parents have spoken of it at various times. However one imagines that she has spoken to her parents regarding this and was comfortable enough in the fact that they love her and would not deliberately hurt her, particularly in a public manner and would have given her parents permission to speak of her and her life. She did not give John Kerry any such permission. A man who has raged that the Patriot Act allows the government to go into your private life had no compunction in discussing the personal life of a private American citizen in front of millions of American's. Apparently John Kerry has upsurped the right to delve into the private life of anyone he deems politically advantageous to himself, thus the man who wishes to appear as the great defender of private life and personal liberties is unable to control himself enough to actually live the principles he so easily mouths. Shocking I know.
This should not be seen as an impulsive moment. There is nothing impulsive about John Kerry, he coldly calculates stratagems that he can utilize in his quest for political power. Who can think of any other serviceman who took the time to have a camera at hand so they could recreate scenes of combat to later to be used, however many years later, to bolster his self image of a heroic combat vet.
Then of course there is Mrs. Edwards characterizing the upset this has caused as the Cheney's being ashamed of their daughter, apparently it never occurred to her that it is nearly universally instinctual for parents to protect their children instead of using throwing them to the political wolves who smile as they call the child of their political opponent "Fair Game" I suppose to wolves anything is fair game when one is hungry enough.
I leave you with a quote from Samuel Adams, fiery patriot.
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779
Red
posted by redcrabtree | 11:42 PM
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