The issue of the Kerry/Edwards so-called attacks on Mary Cheney is a quickly dissipating distraction.
But that hasn't stopped Andrew Sullivan from getting his blood pressure up in an eloquent fisking of Safire's column yesterday.
Then, taking political commentary commentary to a whole new level, Sullivan posts the "money quote" from his own article on his blog:
"The question raised was whether homosexual orientation is a choice. The most obvious argument that it isn't a choice is that many gay people would obviously be better off if they were straight. Why would they choose something that difficult if they didn't have to? This is particularly the case with people in the current Republican Party. If homosexuality is a choice, why would gay Republicans exist? Since the party is now institutionally anti-gay, it would make sense for all those who have "chosen" to be gay to "choose" to be straight. But they can't. Why? Because it isn't a choice.
"And, whether she likes it or not, the most prominent gay Republican in the entire country is Mary Cheney. In fact, she's particularly poignant proof that homosexuality is not a choice. Her lesbianism is a source of acute embarrassment for the Republican Party. That's why she was pointedly absent from the family tableau at the Republican Convention. And yet she endures. And her family embraces her and her partner, Heather. What data could be more relevant in response to the question asked?"
Posted by Mr. Miara at October 19, 2004 11:24 AMEric Zorn, in today's Chicago Tribune:
"Kerry's remarks can only be seen as inappropriate, tawdry and cruel through the same prism that sees homosexuality as inappropriate, tawdry and so shameful that merely mentioning the fact that someone is openly gay qualifies as cruelty worthy of wild-eyed red-baiter Joe McCarthy.
Every last scrap of indignation over Kerry's remark is predicated upon the moral condemnation of homosexuality.
Which is, obviously, the point."