No one on the political left or middle is feeling sorry for former Vice President Dick Cheney and the war over gay marriage that is raging in his own household.
One of Cheney’s daughters hates gay marriage. The other daughter, who is gay, supports homosexual unions. Thus, a vicious sibling fight has ensued.
If you recall recent political history, Dick Cheney was arguably the most hated and the most powerful man in America during President George W. Bush’s eight-year reign of right-wing governance that began at the turn of the millennium. The extreme right-wing VP has been blamed for promoting policies that helped enrich himself tremendously, escalate wars in the Middle East and helped to plunge the country into the greatest marketplace recession in more than 70 years.
So it seems only fitting for some Americans that his two daughters — one heterosexual and the other homosexual — are at great odds over the legalities and morals of lesbians exchanging nuptials.
One daughter, Liz Cheney, is a Republican running for a Wyoming Senate seat partially on her her disapproval of gay marriage. This very public stance has rankled the nerves and injured the feelings of her own sister, Mary Cheney, who married her long-time partner, Heather Poe, last year.
The intrafamilial war of words spilled into the public arena when Liz Cheney reiterated her support for traditional marriage between a man and a woman. Mary Cheney flung some dirt back at her sister on Facebook, harshly criticizing her sister. Subsequently, the two sisters have entered a “cold war” in which neither is speaking directly to the other.
Undeterred, Liz continued on her public anti-gay marriage stance on FOX News and said that gay marriage is “just an area where we disagree.”
Wrong move. Mary fired off zingers at her sister on Facebook: “Liz — this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree, you’re just wrong — and on the wrong side of history.”
Mary Cheney’s wife, meanwhile, got even more emotional in her Facebook post:
I was watching my sister-in-law on Fox News Sunday (yes Liz, in fifteen states and the District of Columbia you are my sister-in-law) and 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.
Caught in the middle of all of this, of course, is the probably the person once considered the most powerful vice president in the history of the country, father Dick Cheney.
“This is an issue we have dealt with privately for many years, and we are pained to see it become public,” Cheney and his wife Lynne said in a statement. “Since it has, one thing should be clear. Liz has always believed in the traditional definition of marriage. She has also always treated her sister and her sister’s family with love and respect, exactly as she should have done. Compassion is called for, even when there is disagreement about such a fundamental matter and Liz’s many kindnesses shouldn’t be used to distort her position.”
This couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
