OK, a week before the devils arrive in New York City, and is it me, but is Dick Cheney sounding almost human, at least on one issue?
It came out in a rally today that Dick Cheney doesn’t personally support the ban on gay marriage, and that he actually thinks that people should be able to do what they want; that freedom is freedom for all. My god, I almost don’t hate the man! But then the dirty deals and his ethics bring that bile right back up to where it’s been for the last four years….
Yahoo! story archived here.Cheney Says Does Not Back Federal Gay Marriage Ban
Tue Aug 24, 7:19 PM ET
DAVENPORT, Iowa (Reuters) – Vice President Dick Cheney (news – web sites) said on Tuesday that he does not personally support a constitutional amendment against gay marriage but accepts President Bush (news – web sites)’s decision to pursue such a ban as administration policy.
Resorting to unusually expansive language to address an emotional campaign issue that has proved divisive for Republicans, Cheney said he believes individual states rather than the federal government should decide whether to sanction marriage between homosexuals.
“My general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone. People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want,” Cheney, 63, said in response to a question at a campaign “town hall” meeting in Davenport, Iowa.
Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian and works for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said during the 2000 presidential race that be held homosexual marriage to be a state issue.
But he has been circumspect about gay marriage in the current election year, while Bush has appealed to social conservatives by backing congressional efforts to enact a constitutional ban.
“I made clear four years ago when I ran and this question came up in the debate I had with Joe Lieberman (news – web sites) that my view was that that’s appropriately a matter for the states to decide, that that’s how it ought to best be handled,” Cheney said.
“But the president makes basic policy for the administration. And he’s made it clear that he does in fact support a constitutional amendment on this issue,” he added.
He suggested the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which recognizes heterosexual marriage for purposes of federal law, could help resolve the gay marriage issue.
The proposed ban, which won presidential backing after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples have the right to marry, was ultimately defeated in the U.S. Senate when Republican lawmakers broke party ranks to join Democrats in opposing the measure.
Cheney’s view that states should be the arbiters of the gay marriage issue mirrors the opinions of many Democrats.