(Mary and Heather, back row left, listen as Dubya delivers his 2004 reelection victory speech.)
[I] was very disappointed to hear her say "I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage." Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 - she didn't hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us.
To have her now say she doesn't support our right to marry is offensive to say the least I can't help but wonder how Liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other. I always thought freedom meant freedom for EVERYONE.
Poe, up to now, has been the silent partner and then wife used in a few photo-ops with her in-laws and at Republican conventions where acceptance of gays and marriage, oh, and freedom for everyone, were in very short supply. Mary Cheney and Heather Poe have been together since 1992 and I believe this is the most substantive comment she has ever made about the politics of her family and gays.
Why the silence from Poe all these years while the LGBT community has been politically pummeled and demonized and denied a whole bunch of civil and legal rights? The same silence as her wife has donated money to several politicians who hold the same anti-gay marriage views as her sister-in-law?
Here's the list of pols and campaigns opposed to same-sexers getting hitched that got checks from Mary Cheney and amount to each, according to the PoliticalMoneyLine:
Bush/Cheney '04 Inc
2003: $850
Keith Fimian for Congress
2008: $500
Rob Portman for U.S. Senate
2009: $1,000
(Donation made before his son came out as gay and he became pro-gay marriage.)
Friends of Kelly Ayotte for U.S. Senate
2010: $500
National Republican Congressional Committee
2010: $1,000
2011: $250
Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate
2011: $500
Ilario Pantano for U.S. Congress
2011: $500
George Allen for U.S. Senate
2011: $500
Romney for President
2012: $2,500
Add it all up and the amount she's given to opponents of gay marriage comes to $8,050. Nice chunk of change.
On the flip side, in May she donated $1,000 to Richard Hanna for U.S. Congress Reelection Committee, and he's pro gay marriage.
Seems apparent to my eyes that Mary Cheney does not use gay marriage as the top criteria for supporting a candidate or who gets a check from her. She had no problem giving to ten pols or PACs that didn't embrace her wedding with Poe, so why has she not given to her sister to become a senator from, um, the Equality State?
Look at what Pantano said on Aug. 4, 2010:
Today, Proposition 8 in California was overturned by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in a landmark decision. [...] Our courts are not meant to undermine the will of the people, and activist judges have become increasingly dangerous to the Constitutional separation of powers. It is for that reason, as well as my own personal conviction that marriage is meant to be between one man and one woman, that I denounce Judge Walker's ruling.
That same month is when Rep. Griffiin affirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage and each a year later received a check from Heather Poe's wife. How bad was George Allen before Mary Cheney gave him money? This bad:
As Governor, he signed Virginia’s state defense of marriage law in 1997. Allen campaigned for the 2006 state constitutional amendment that banned all state recognition of same-sex unions. He co-sponsored the “Federal Marriage Amendment.” He continues to reaffirm his support for both the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act and a federal constitutional amendment.
On her Facebook page, Mary Cheney was terse about the dustup between her sister and her wife:
[T]his isn't just an issue on which we disagree - you're just wrong - and on the wrong side of history.
Well, you know what? Not only is Liz Cheney on the wrong side of history but so were the ten candidates and committees at the time she gave them donations. Why the heck didn't Heather Poe open her mouth about those donations and her wife's strong support of gay marriage foes?
Final point. Poe's father-in-law, Dick Cheney, has said he backs freedom for everyone but he's a war criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of deaths of people in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention thousands of deaths of American soldiers. Freedom does not mean a thing to those killed because of Dick Cheney's lust for oil and war.
The entire Cheney family makes me nauseous.
I had zero interest in the Wyoming Senate race till Liz parachuted in and tried to portray herself as a local, after decades of living in Virginia. Hope she loses big time!
ReplyDeleteYou speak a lot of truth, Patrick.