Dick Cheney Backs Gay Marriage

Dick Cheney said a lot of things I don’t agree with, but he did repeat his support for gay marriage. While he is undoubtedly influenced by having a gay daughter, hopefully Cheney will be able to convince other conservatives to reconsider their position:

Speaking at the National Press Club for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation journalism awards, Cheney was asked about recent rulings and legislative action in Iowa and elsewhere that allowed for gay couples to legally wed.

“I think that freedom means freedom for everyone,” replied the former V.P. “As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don’t support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. … But I don’t have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that.”

8 Comments

  1. 1
    Anonymous says:

    Why are we hearing more now from Cheney and many more than we have in in the past eight years. Who cares what is said by them now.

  2. 2
    Fritz says:

    True.  It’s now up to President Obama to support same-sex marriage.  At least that would be nice.

  3. 3
    Anonymous says:

    Eventually?

    So much for principles, right?

    The gay-marriage debate highlights precisely why the mantra that the right is for smaller, less intrusive government is a farce.

    That the right generally has to be dragged kicking and screaming into supporting the notion that individuals, not governments, are best suited to determine the contours of their own lives reveals the hypocrisy and emptiness of rhetoric that hides the real motivation of the right; vast control over our personal lives. Gay rights. Women’s rights. The War on Drugs. Terry Schiavo.

    Can an intelligent right-leaning individual actually believe, anymore, that the right stands for a smaller, less intrusive government?

  4. 4
    Ron Chusid says:

    Conservative rhetoric and conservative practice are certainly quite different.

    It makes sense. What if the Republicans campaigned on a platform of supporting big government which intrudes more in your life? They wouldn’t get anywhere so instead they claim to be doing the opposite.

  5. 5
    long island gal says:

    I think the vice president has a very good point regarding gay marriage. It may sound awkward to a lot of people because we have been educated that a girl must marry a guy. If you are going to think of it, we do have a freedom to choose whoever we want to spend the rest of our lives with.

  6. 6
    Mike says:

    Good point anonymous, it very hard, down right impossible to believe the G.O.P. as a whole, is for smaller, less intrusive government.  On the other hand, the few people out there that give a rip as to how much the government spends or how big it gets, see no solace in the Dems either. What with their quadrupling the annual budget short fall and their “oh so reluctant” conversion of private assets into government assets.

  7. 7
    Ron Chusid says:

    It was also a Democrat who was the last president to balance the budget.

    Of course Clinton was fiscally conservative partially because of the pressure of a Republican Congress. It is always necessary to consider the times–just as Obama’s increased spending and truly reluctant ownership of GM is a consequence of the current economic situation and a poor indicator of what he would have done in normal times. Responsibilty for GM is not something that politicians of either party really want.

  8. 8
    Fritz says:

    I don’t share your belief that Obama is “truly reluctant” that the Feds own most of GM. 

    Amusingly, I just read that President Obama took the time to personally express where he, as the representative of the majority owner, wants the corporate headquarters to be.

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