Bizarre interview with Mary Cheney

Shorter Mary Cheney: I thought about doing the right thing, and then didn't.

She says she considered quitting her role as campaign adviser over the issue of gay marriage, but Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter Mary Cheney tells ABC News "Primetime" anchor Diane Sawyer her sexuality has never created problems within her family. Mary Cheney discussed the campaign, her feelings about President Bush, life with her partner of 14 years, and what it was like to come out as gay to her parents. Watch the full interview with Mary Cheney on "Primetime," Thursday at 10 p.m. ET. "I struggled with my decision to stay on the 2004 campaign," Cheney told "Primetime." Her personal challenge came when President Bush said the nation must defend the sanctity of marriage. When Bush proclaimed it in the State of the Union, she refused to go. Mary Cheney, a senior campaign advisor, was finally taking her stand. "I didn't want to be there. No one banned me from being there. But I didn't want to stand up and cheer," she said. She says the president offered to let her give a public statement in disagreement, and her father indicated publicly he disagreed with his boss on the issue. She declined but says she did talk with her family about quitting the campaign. Cheney has had to deal with hearing hateful names about gays and lesbians from the right-wing of her own party. And gay rights activists say that Cheney's silence is just a form of hypocrisy. They even made a milk carton that said, "Mary Cheney Missing." She jokes about that. "That's...ooh, God, that's a nice picture." Her reply to their criticism is simple. "We each have to choose our own path," she said. "I respect their opinion. But it is not the path that I would choose for myself."

Yes, we're aware of the path you've chosen Mary. Are you? Read More......

Open thread

Since there are so many die-hard Howard Dean fans out there - I say this because most of them went ape shit in the comments on the blog tonight - please tell me what Mr. Dean has done since he became head of the party? I'd simply like a list of good things he's done. Because I haven't heard of anything. But I'm happy to keep an open mind, and since folks are so vehemently in favor of the guy, there must be a lot.

So tell me. What has Howard Dean done that's been so exceptional since he took over the Democratic party? And I ask this question as someone who fought for Dean to be the head of the party. Read More......

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg compares Republican and religious right court critics to "Soviet Union"

That should set off some fireworks. She's of course correct, the modern Republican party has gone so far to the right that it is embracing policies that once were acceptable only in the Soviet Union, fascist Italy, or Nazi Germany.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Tuesday that a Republican proposal in Congress to set up a watchdog over the federal courts is a "really scary idea."

"My sense now is that the judiciary is under assault in a way that I haven't seen before," she said.As an example, she mentioned proposals by senior Republicans who want an inspector general to police judges' acceptance of free trips or their possible financial interests with groups that could appear before them.

"It sounds to me very much like the Soviet Union was .... That's a really scary idea," said Ginsburg, who was put on the court by President Clinton and is one of its liberal members.

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US House passes sham lobbying "reform" bill

Anything to get re-elected, these Republicans. If they can't bribe the American people, they pass a shell of a bill to ensure that they themselves can continue getting bribed.

More from CREW and DailyKos. Read More......

White House won't release entire Abramoff visit list, defies judge's order

I smell... a 29 percent approval rating coming...

The White House said Tuesday the list the Secret Service has been ordered to release concerning convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's contacts with the Bush administration will be incomplete.

But spokesman Scott McClellan declined to say what is wrong with the Secret Service list, why it is inaccurate and whether it includes far fewer meetings than took place.

"I don't know exactly what they'll be providing, but they only have certain records and so I just wouldn't view it as a complete historical record," McClellan said.

Cover up, cover up, cover up (the preceding should be sung for best effect).

God, I love these people. Read More......

Ok, I'm in NYC, meet me at the Starbucks at 8pm

8pm tonight, Wednesday
Starbucks
50th & Lexington
560 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York 10022
212-751-2937
open till 10 pm

And as for those of you with Starbucks cooties, we needed a place near the hotel, last minute, and there were no better suggestions that worked better. I'm sure you'll survive. :-) Read More......

Cheney to meet with oil dictator during "freedom agenda" tour

Details, details. It's always a lot easier to talk about promoting freedom and democracy than it is to actually live up to those words. What an absolute fraud. Suckling from the teet of another oil dictator and then telling everyone about how much you value freedom. Read More......

John McCain says liberals need to understand that he's a "conservative Republican"

Any McCain envy is now officially over. The man is a conservative Republican and he admits it freely. It's over, folks. You want four more years of tax cuts, real wars, culture wars, and deficit spending, vote for John McCain.

He says liberals need to understand that he's not a man of the left, or even the center. "I haven't changed. My record is the same on all issues, which is that of a conservative Republican. Not a liberal Republican, not a moderate Republican."

Read More......

Okay, AMERICAblog coffee meetup with me in NYC 8pm here...

8pm tonight, Wednesday
Starbucks
50th & Lexington
560 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York 10022
212-751-2937
open till 10 pm
has seating for 20 - not crowded in evening Read More......

Is Mary Cheney trying to undercut Bill Frist on gay marriage?

It's hard to think otherwise, considering Mary just coincidentally chose to release her new book "Now it's my turn" just weeks before the US Senate brings up the amendment to the US Constitution to ban gays from marrying, and likely eliminating most civil rights we have.

How can Mary claim this is only a coincidence? And if she does claim it's only a coincidence, does that mean Mary WON'T be using her book launch to help her own lover Heather Poe and her own community by denouncing what the Republican Congress, what her own father, are all doing by pushing this hateful gay-bashing amendment?

Inquiring minds want to know. Is Mary finally taking a stand for Heather Poe and her community, or is she once again running for the closet just in time for her father to bash us once again.

Mary in on ABC's Prime Time Live tomorrow night - let's see if she grows a pair, or even a conscience, between now and then.

And a big PS to the media. Now it's my turn? If that isn't a direct slap at the DearMary.com Web campaign I launched about Mary two years ago, I don't know what it. Read More......

Where could we all get coffee this evening at 8pm in NYC?

Ok, I arrive around 6pm in NYC tonight, so I can do a coffee at 8pm with anyone who's interested. Our hotel is near 3rd Avenue and E. 52d or so. So where's a good spot, relatively near there, where we could grab some coffee or a drink and have enough room for a decent number of folks (typically, between 30 and 50 people show up - you never know, but it's possible).

I need suggestions quick, since I have to leave for the train a bit after 2.

Thanks, JOHN Read More......

Open thread

No trolls need apply. Read More......

Howard Dean fires gay man in apparent retaliation against his partner

Can you say Valerie Plame?

The Democratic National Committee yesterday fired its gay liaision, my friend Donald Hitchcock, and immediately replaced him with someone else (thus showing the position wasn't phased out). What's odd about the firing, to put it lightly is that it comes within days of Donald's partner, Paul Yandura, publicly criticizing the DNC for not being pro-gay enough.

The DNC claims they aren't retaliating against the spouse for the other spouse's politics. From all apperances, that's exactly what they're doing.

Howard Dean would never fire a straight woman because her husband had criticized the DNC. But somehow when it's a gay couple, Dean has no problem giving the appearance of taking revenge on an employee who has done nothing wrong. Then again, the employee is gay, so you know, perhaps that makes him only three-fifths an employee in the eyes of the DNC.

You just don't fire someone days after their spouse criticizes you and expect people to believe anything but revenge is at play. It's petty. It's sick. And it's one more sign that Paul Yandura may in fact be right - the DNC appears to have a very serious gay problem.

It's Valerie Plame all over again. But this time, when it's Democrats taking revenge on the spouse, somehow we're to accept this kind of vicious crass politics as "fair game"?

Howard Dean owes all an explanation, unless he wants to see all hell break loose between now and the election. Read More......

Colbert's performance finally makes The NY Times

Colbert's routine at the White House/Press dinner the other night is finally permeating the traditional media -- because as the Times puts it, "the Blogosphere Is Alive With the Sound of Colbert Chatter." So, apparently, the actual performance itself wasn't newsworthy. But the fact that the blogs are talking about it makes it newsworthy. Read More......

GOP energy policy: panic, stunts and just plain winging it

Bush and the GOP are creatures -- and captives -- of big oil. They must long for the days when they could decide energy policy in Cheney's office and no one paid attention. Now that gas prices are a major political problem, the Repubs don't know how to deal with it. Combine that with the low approval ratings for Bush and Congress and panic is setting in:

The response so far has been profiles in panic. Some conservatives dropped their philosophical opposition to tax hikes and business regulations and began complaining loudly about oil companies and the auto industry.

President Bush last week announced that he wanted the authority to raise fuel economy standards on automobiles. One aide acknowledged the idea was devised on the fly, with almost no planning or discussion among relevant agencies. This became obvious within hours when White House officials cautioned that Bush had no immediate plan to use the authority even if he had it.

A few days earlier, Bush backed diverting crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an idea he dismissed less than two years earlier as a political stunt.

The entire Bush Administration has been a political stunt. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

What new outrages can we expect today? Read More......

Brits have better health than Americans

I admit, I have never thought of the Brits as the healthiest lot so this study is a real shocker. The UK's national health program (NHS) generally has a mediocre at best reputation though this study appears to suggest that the overriding factor in good health may be stress. Americans are stressed and it's taking its toll.

"At every point in the social hierarchy there is more illness in the United States than in England and the differences are really dramatic," said study co-author Dr. Michael Marmot, an epidemiologist at University College London in England.

The upper crust in both countries was healthier than middle-class and low-income people in the same country. But richer Americans' health status resembled the health of the low-income British.

Marmot offered yet another explanation for the gap: Americans' financial insecurity. Improvements in household income have eluded all but the top fifth of Americans since the mid-1970s. Meanwhile, English citizens saw their incomes improve, he said.

Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health who was not involved in the study, said the stress of striving for the American dream may account for Americans' lousy health.

"The opportunity to go both up and down the socioeconomic scale in America may create stress," Blendon said. Americans don't have a reliable government safety net like the English enjoy, Blendon said.

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Condoms to be accepted by Vatican?

That's the rumor that is circulating at the moment. It is only for very specific circumstances but it is certainly a far cry from the report that was delivered just a few years ago which questioned the effectiveness of condoms. Who would have guessed that Benedict XVI was such a radical, dragging the Vatican out of the Dark Ages into the 1950s? The next thing you know he's going to accept the Vatican's responsibility in the pedophilia scandals and quit hiding behind legal loopholes. What a radical.

"We are conducting a very profound scientific, technical and moral study," said the head of the Vatican Council for Health Pastoral Care. The church is expected to give a guarded, provisional blessing to the use of condoms by married couples when one of them suffers from Aids, as a way of protecting the health of the other partner. It is only a technical concession, based on two ancient principles, but, against the background of the stolid refusal by church authorities to countenance even the slightest deviation for more than a generation, it amounts to a revolution.

Read More......

Dollar declining once again

Between Bernanke making a "rookie mistake" on air, the bloated deficit, the credit card GOP spending and improvements in foreign economies, the US dollar is being kicked around once again. Besides making a complete mess of US foreign policy, the Bush administration has been trashing the once strong US dollar and US finances. When are we going to get some serious checks and balances in DC? Read More......

Open thread - I'm off to NYC - do we plan a coffee?

Off to NYC tomorrow until Friday for a few work things. Going to be doing some briefings on 'what is a blog' and attending some Global AIDS Fund related event. Should be interesting. I love that city.

Haven't decided yet on whether to try to schedule a coffee with you all in NYC. It would have to either be Wednesday night, like at 8, or Friday morning like may 10 or 11. Joe will be there too. So maybe we should do it. Our hotel situation is a bit confused, Wednesday we're at 3rd Avenue and E. 52d, and Thursday I have no idea. Either way we're in the city.

So what do folks think. Is it worth trying to plan something for Wednesday evening, or Friday morning? Read More......