Dick's Wife in Hot Water

Mephisto

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Mephisto
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Lynne Cheney novel churns controversy in Senate race

POSTED: 5:26 p.m. EST, October 29, 2006

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Lynne Cheney is deflecting talk of the sexual content in her novel "Sisters," a 25-year-old book that resurfaced in a campaign Friday and is stirring up controversy.

The novel, featuring a lesbian love affair, was brought up Friday amid a contentious Senate race in Virginia. Soon a Democratic committee and Cheney herself -- in an interview on CNN -- were weighing in.

Cheney, the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, convinced the publisher not to reissue the book in 2004 during the presidential election. Her attorney told the media at the time that Cheney "did not think the book was her best work." (Watch Lynne Cheney discuss the controversy with Wolf Blitzer -- 10:18 )

Cheney's biography on the White House Web site says she is the author or co-author of nine books, and it lists six of them, but not "Sisters."



http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/29/cheney.lynne.novel/index.html
 
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As much as I'd like bad things to happen to the Republican party, why would a tawdry book featuring lesbians be more damaging to them than, say, a poorly planned war based on bad policy?
 
ImaginalDisc said:
As much as I'd like bad things to happen to the Republican party, why would a tawdry book featuring lesbians be more damaging to them than, say, a poorly planned war based on bad policy?
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Because it erodes their power base, which consists of a whole lot of blue-nosed, sanctimonious Christians. I agree that it is a shame that such unimportant stuff like this and Mark Foley are having more impact on the GOP than their corruption, their failed policies, their pandering to the rich, their assault on the environment, and their attempt to undermine the Bill of Rights, but I won't refuse help from any direction.

Like in Ms. Cheney's novel, you need to be careful who you get into bed with.
 
I would like to investigate this further. Does the book have pictures?

Charlie (hot republican lesbians) Monoxide
 
Charlie Monoxide said:
I would like to investigate this further. Does the book have pictures?

Charlie (hot republican lesbians) Monoxide
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Just the cover. Hot, huh?
sisters.jpg
 
Tricky said:
Because it erodes their power base, which consists of a whole lot of blue-nosed, sanctimonious Christians. I agree that it is a shame that such unimportant stuff like this and Mark Foley are having more impact on the GOP than their corruption, their failed policies, their pandering to the rich, their assault on the environment, and their attempt to undermine the Bill of Rights, but I won't refuse help from any direction.
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On what basis would you conclude that these events are having a real impact on Republicans? The fact that it gets continued press coverage? That certainly isn't any evidence, since the press is not made up of mostly "blue-nosed, sanctimonious Christians". I suspect this will have less effect on the actual "sanctimonious Christian" voters than you presume. I don't think this is really going to help Democrats, though it will probably hurt public opinion of the press. Kind of like the whole "Dick Cheney has a GAY DAUGHTER!" thing during the debates hurt Kerry/Edwards.
 
Ziggurat said:
On what basis would you conclude that these events are having a real impact on Republicans? The fact that it gets continued press coverage? That certainly isn't any evidence, since the press is not made up of mostly "blue-nosed, sanctimonious Christians". I suspect this will have less effect on the actual "sanctimonious Christian" voters than you presume. I don't think this is really going to help Democrats, though it will probably hurt public opinion of the press. Kind of like the whole "Dick Cheney has a GAY DAUGHTER!" thing during the debates hurt Kerry/Edwards.
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Then you don't believe that the Republicans might be viewed as hypocrites?
 
Ziggurat said:
On what basis would you conclude that these events are having a real impact on Republicans? The fact that it gets continued press coverage? That certainly isn't any evidence, since the press is not made up of mostly "blue-nosed, sanctimonious Christians". I suspect this will have less effect on the actual "sanctimonious Christian" voters than you presume. I don't think this is really going to help Democrats, though it will probably hurt public opinion of the press. Kind of like the whole "Dick Cheney has a GAY DAUGHTER!" thing during the debates hurt Kerry/Edwards.
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I'm not suggesting that Ma and Pa Hymnhummer are going to run out and register as Democrats, but I think that the polls have showed that many of the politically loyal religious right are suffering from scandal fatigue and are much more likely to stay at home rather than vote if they feel like "all politicians are the same". Sure, a lot of them will blame the press, but not all of them. After all, even Fox is reporting on the scandals.
 
Ziggurat said:
On what basis would you conclude that these events are having a real impact on Republicans? The fact that it gets continued press coverage? That certainly isn't any evidence, since the press is not made up of mostly "blue-nosed, sanctimonious Christians". I suspect this will have less effect on the actual "sanctimonious Christian" voters than you presume. I don't think this is really going to help Democrats, though it will probably hurt public opinion of the press. Kind of like the whole "Dick Cheney has a GAY DAUGHTER!" thing during the debates hurt Kerry/Edwards.
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Well, if this had come out in a vacuum, I would tend to agree with you, Zig, but it is being used (as pointed out above) as a counterpoint to Senator Allen's (R-VA) attack on his opponent for certain "risque" lines used in his novels. So in this case it is "sauce for the goose"; and I am sure Mrs. Bush is not really happy that Senator Allen, who has had difficulty running anyway with a foot seemingly permanently stuck in his mouth, used a tactic that brought her book into play...
 
Mephisto said:
Then you don't believe that the Republicans might be viewed as hypocrites?
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Which Republicans? The Cheneys? No, they aren't hypocrits: they've been fairly gay-tolerant for quite some time, it's not a secret and it's nothing new. Other Republicans? Other Republicans didn't write the book. And is there anything hypocritical about different Republicans having different views on an issue? No, there isn't. The whole idea of exploiting this episode for political gain for Democrats is looking to me a lot like, "We don't like the intolerance of Republicans, so we're going to demand that they act intolerant." And I think it's going to strike Republicans, even "sanctimonious Christian" Republicans, this way too. I don't see a win for Democrats from this approach.
 
Hutch said:
Well, if this had come out in a vacuum, I would tend to agree with you, Zig, but it is being used (as pointed out above) as a counterpoint to Senator Allen's (R-VA) attack on his opponent for certain "risque" lines used in his novels.
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Then it could hurt Allen, who could be made to look like a fool for trying to play that game, but I doubt it will have any effect on races in which candidates are NOT criticising fiction writing of their opponents (which, if I'm not mistaken, is most races).
 
Ziggurat said:
Then it could hurt Allen, who could be made to look like a fool for trying to play that game, but I doubt it will have any effect on races in which candidates are NOT criticising fiction writing of their opponents (which, if I'm not mistaken, is most races).
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You may very well be right; but timing is everything and if this gets strong national play about 10 days before the election, just one more thing for voters to remember...we shall see.
 
Ziggurat said:
On what basis would you conclude that these events are having a real impact on Republicans? The fact that it gets continued press coverage? That certainly isn't any evidence, since the press is not made up of mostly "blue-nosed, sanctimonious Christians". I suspect this will have less effect on the actual "sanctimonious Christian" voters than you presume. I don't think this is really going to help Democrats, though it will probably hurt public opinion of the press. Kind of like the whole "Dick Cheney has a GAY DAUGHTER!" thing during the debates hurt Kerry/Edwards.
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Really for homosexual relatives you can not ignore carl rove, he likes to use homosexuality as a campaign issue to mobilize his base, but he had a decent relationship with his homosexual father. The reason that these relationships matter, is because if you are going to make being antigay a campaign issue then any connections you have to homosexuals matter.

It would be like finding out that someone campaigning on an antigun platform owns alot of guns, their stance on the issue makes their personal lives important.
 
Ziggurat said:
Which Republicans? The Cheneys? No, they aren't hypocrits: they've been fairly gay-tolerant for quite some time, it's not a secret and it's nothing new. Other Republicans? Other Republicans didn't write the book. And is there anything hypocritical about different Republicans having different views on an issue? No, there isn't. The whole idea of exploiting this episode for political gain for Democrats is looking to me a lot like, "We don't like the intolerance of Republicans, so we're going to demand that they act intolerant." And I think it's going to strike Republicans, even "sanctimonious Christian" Republicans, this way too. I don't see a win for Democrats from this approach.
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The whole administration doesn't seem to have much problems with homosexuality, except around election time. Then they change their position.
 
Ziggurat said:
Which Republicans? The Cheneys? No, they aren't hypocrits: they've been fairly gay-tolerant for quite some time, it's not a secret and it's nothing new. Other Republicans? Other Republicans didn't write the book. And is there anything hypocritical about different Republicans having different views on an issue? No, there isn't. The whole idea of exploiting this episode for political gain for Democrats is looking to me a lot like, "We don't like the intolerance of Republicans, so we're going to demand that they act intolerant." And I think it's going to strike Republicans, even "sanctimonious Christian" Republicans, this way too. I don't see a win for Democrats from this approach.
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As Hutch already pointed out . . .

""Sisters," which has triggered controversies in the past, returned to the news after Sen. George Allen, a Republican from Virginia, pulled up sexual passages that his Democratic challenger, Jim Webb, had included in his novels."

Frankly, I don't see this type of politics as a win for anyone, but as has already been said, "what's good for the goose . . . "
 
ponderingturtle said:
Really for homosexual relatives you can not ignore carl rove, he likes to use homosexuality as a campaign issue to mobilize his base, but he had a decent relationship with his homosexual father. The reason that these relationships matter, is because if you are going to make being antigay a campaign issue then any connections you have to homosexuals matter.

It would be like finding out that someone campaigning on an antigun platform owns alot of guns, their stance on the issue makes their personal lives important.
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Here in Florida there's a big deal election for the Governor's seat to replace god-boy's brother, who can't run a 3rd term due to limits. The Republicans have this handsome dude, with great hair, perfect smile, lots of charisma and political presence (Charlie Crist). The rumor mill is slowing grinding up trying to out him. There are some ex-lovers (male) of his already starting to talk.

I really could care less about someone's sexual orientation. It's only an issue if you're trying to hide it. Karl Rove successfully got GW into the governor's house on rumor's the incumbant (Ann something) was a closet lesbian.

The race is getting tighter here every day from double digits a few weeks ago in Crist's favor to them now running a statistical tie.

If Republicans feel that this is dirty politics, such is life. They are the ones who set the examples ....

Charle (Jim Davis for Florida Gov) Monoxide
 
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