Dick Backs Gay marriage

[cubsfan6506]

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday he supports gays being able to marry but believes states, not the federal government, should make the decision.

"I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone," Cheney said in a speech at the National Press Club. "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish."

Cheney, who has a gay daughter, said marriage has always been a state issue.

"And I think that's the way it ought to be handled today, that is, on a state-by-state basis. Different states will make different decisions. But I don't have any problem with that. I think people ought to get a shot at that," he said.

Defending Bush-era policies
Cheney spent most of his speech, and during the questions and answers that followed, defending the Bush administration's wartime policies.

He said that the jail at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba was necessary because its prisoners are too dangerous to be held elsewhere.

"If you don't have a place where you can hold these people, the only other option is to kill them, and we don't operate that way," he said.

The 240 prisoners left at Guantanamo, he said, are "the worst of the worst" — including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Muhammed — who would gladly become suicide bombers to kill more Americans.

Cheney said if the jail had not existed, captured terrorists would have had to have been brought to the United States where they would have legal rights denied to them at Guantanamo. He did not address why the prisoners could not have been held at U.S. military jails in war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq, where some newly captured prisoners are going now.

Cheney reiterated his challenge to President Barack Obama to release several pages of secret memos that Cheney says will prove that harsh interrogations were effective. His initial request to release the memos was turned down last month because the documents are the subject of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and may be released by a court.

Cheney noted that Obama in April superseded another FOIA lawsuit to release the memos describing the CIA's harsh interrogation program, which he called "giving away the store."

Cheney also defended the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, despite faulty intelligence about its nuclear weapons program and links to the 9/11 attacks. He asserted that Saddam Hussein could have helped terrorists acquire nuclear weapons. The U.S. government could find no evidence of an active Iraq nuclear weapons program after the invasion.

More than 4,300 U.S. service members have died in Iraq, with more than 30,000 wounded. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in the 6-year-old war that has cost the United States about $675 billion so far, according to the National Priorities Project.

Cheney is writing a memoir about his years in government, which he said will highlight the successes of the policies set in place after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001

Looks like he got one right.

 

[Red Door]

The daughter being a lezbo might have some influence in this opinion.

 

[cubsfan6506]

Yeah I agree.

 

[Arwon]

So where does he stand on the federal government denying equality with marriage to people in a state-defined civil union even where, at a state level, marriage and civil unions are defined as equal?

 

[JollyRoger]

If marriage is purely a state issue, I'm sure he is for ridding federal tax exemptions based on marriage or that the exemption should be based on the relevant state law definition rather than some restrictive federal definition. Same goes for federal survivorship benefits on things like social security.

 

[LucyDuke]

Seriously? Link?

Chalk this one up in the "it's inevitable" column, I think.

 

[Shadylookin]

I'm pretty sure he said something similar 5 years ago.

However I still think he's wrong. The states shouldn't get to decide and the federal government should be required to recognize them.

 

[History_Buff]

Good on him, though I can't see this as a state issue. It's something of a human rights thing; for the Federal government not to enforce an across the board rule would be kind of insane.

 

[Miles Teg]

He's previously stated that he feels the issue should be left to the states, but I think this is the first time he's personally back gay marriage.

 

[Luckymoose]

I miss old Dick. Give me the Dick I'm used to.

 

[JollyRoger]

I miss old Dick. Give me the Dick I'm used to.

Save that kind of talk for the honeymoon.

 

[Camikaze]

Let's see. How do I have a go at Dick for this one?

Pure nepotism. Even Darth Vader took pity on Luke.

 

[jessiecat]

I miss old Dick. Give me the Dick I'm used to.

Dick doesn't know dick.

 

[Evie]

Apparently, this should be old news, because the WaPo has an article dating back to 2004 where he says substantially the same thing, includign the freedom means freedom for everybody line.

It just seems nobody actually noticed back then.

 

[aronnax]

I thought he was on bad terms with his Lezbo daughter?

 

[TopDog]

This is seriously the greatest thread title ever without any doubt or arguments.

 

[El_Machinae]

Apparently, this should be old news, because the WaPo has an article dating back to 2004 where he says substantially the same thing, includign the freedom means freedom for everybody line.

It just seems nobody actually noticed back then.

In the interview that I saw, he referred to his daughter's spouse as a 'spouse'. That sold it for me.
Though I find it awfully that Omar Khadr is considered one of the 240 'worst of the worst' in Gitmo. Big men, torturing a 15 year old citizen of an allied country, and holding him for years.

 

[amadeus]

However I still think he's wrong. The states shouldn't get to decide and the federal government should be required to recognize them.

Marriage licenses are issued by states, not the federal government.

 

[dusters]

This is funny. As a lesbian myself I think marriage rights won't change much in queer folk lives. It is another big fuss the media is creating. The real issue is discrimination and USA is really advanced country in that matter. In my country you can get fired from job if you come out in a wrong way

 

[JollyRoger]

This is funny. As a lesbian myself I think marriage rights won't change much in queer folk lives. It is another big fuss the media is creating. The real issue is discrimination and USA is really advanced country in that matter. In my country you can get fired from job if you come out in a wrong way

In the U.S. military, you can get fired if you come out at all.