The Death Of Decency On National Television

Jerry Brooks

Wednesday night’s third and final presidential debate on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona was the site of one of the most despicable things I’ve seen in all the years I’ve observed politics. But given who was involved and the subsequent fallout, I’m not all that surprised.

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry responded to a question asked by debate moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS news. Mr. Schieffer asked whether or not homosexuality was choice in the context of the same-sex marriage issue. Kerry replied:

"We're all God's children, Bob, and I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was. She's being who she was born as. I think if you talk to anybody, it's not a choice."

This was the second instance that Mary Cheney, the Vice-President’s daughter was mentioned. John Edwards mentioned Mary Cheney in his debate with Dick Cheney last week in Cleveland.

Edwards crossing the line was bad enough, but when Kerry did the same thing during the debate, Lynnee Cheney, Mary Cheney’s mother, made her feelings known and without apology. At a rally in Pennsylvania Mrs. Cheney was quoted as saying:

"Now, you know, I did have a chance to assess John Kerry once more and now the only thing I could conclude: This is not a good man. Of course, I am speaking as a mom, and a pretty indignant mom. This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick."

Can anyone really blame Lynne Cheney for her reaction? If I were a mother I would have been much less gracious than Lynne Cheney was if someone had decided to go after one of my kids for political gain.

The Kerry-Edwards campaign didn’t seem to have a problem with this. Apparently Mary Cheney is “fair game” according to Kerry’s campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. Cahill told FOX news in a post-debate interview:

"She seems to be very proud and open about her sexuality, her parents seem to be very proud of her," Cahill said. "It comes up, there are a lot of questions here about gay marriage, and she is someone who is a major figure in the campaign. I think it's fair game and I think she has been treated very respectfully."

As if this saga wasn’t tragic and pathetic enough, enter the wild card in this entire discourse. Elizabeth Edwards, wife of vice-presidential nominee John Edwards. Mrs. Edwards just had to get her proverbial two cents in when she commented during an interview with ABC radio:

"She's overreacted to this and treated it as if it's shameful to have this discussion. I think that's a very sad state of affairs. ... I think that it indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences. ... It makes me really sad that that's Lynne’s response."

What makes me really sad Mrs. Edwards is that your husband and his running mate had to bring the subject up in the first place. Mary Cheney isn’t ashamed of her family and they’re not ashamed of her. In fact, Mary Cheney is very actively involved with the Bush-Cheney campaign behind the scenes. She’s there by choice and not because of any supposed shame she or her family may feel. For Elizabeth Edwards, who’s a mother herself, to make such an asinine and insensitive remark like this shows the growing amount of desperation that the Kerry-Edwards ticket must be feeling.

Unless you’ve been in a cave for a while, you know that this year’s election is one of the most bitterly contested races in many decades. Even more so than the 2000 election. To bring up Mary Cheney, and I believe this was a calculated move by Kerry, to somehow cast aspersions on Bush and Cheney is just way beyond the bounds of civility. There were even reports that some of the journalists watching the debate were rather shocked as well by Kerry’s statement.

If you have to stoop to the level of making the sexual orientation of your opponent’s children a campaign issue, then something is fundamentally (emphasis on mentally) wrong with the campaign. Debating the issues is one thing, but besmirching your opponent’s kids tells me that decency was just killed for the entire nation to see. That saddens me most of all.

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Jerry Brooks is a regular contributing columnist with The Washington Dispatch and currently resides in Spokane, Washington. He's the Regional Coordinator for The Western Conservative Alliance (a multi-state grassroots orgnization) and a former congressional candidate in Oregon's 3rd Congressional District. He's now active with the Washington State Young Republicans.

blkconserv@mail.com