Posted on 05/02/2006 1:10:54 PM PDT by meandog
New York, N.Y. – In her new memoir, NOW IT'S MY TURN(Simon & Schuster/Threshold Editions, 2006), Mary Cheney writes that when she told her parents she was gay, the first words out of her father’s mouth “were exactly the ones that I wanted to hear: ‘You’re my daughter, and I love you, and I just want you to be happy.’”
VANITY FAIR editor Todd Purdum reports that Mary Cheney tells her story in a voice very much like her father’s, and that she came out to her parents when she was a junior in high school, on a day when, after breaking up with her first girlfriend, she skipped school, ran a red light, and crashed the family car. Cheney writes that her mother hugged her, but then burst into tears, worried that she would face a life of pain and prejudice.
When Purdum asks the vice president whether he thinks gay people are born that way, Cheney scrunches up his mouth, fixes him with a look that says “Nice try,” then says: “I’m not going to get into that. Those are deeply personal questions. You can ask.”
Mary Cheney tells Purdum that her father “has very little tolerance for bullshit, pardon my French.” She also says that one common reaction from people who have read the manuscript of her book is “‘Wow, you guys really have this close-knit, loving family,’ and it always strikes me as ‘Yeah, of course we do.’ It was very surprising to me that people would think we didn’t.”
When Purdum asks Cheney if he is fatalistic about his heart disease, Cheney says, “I am. I don’t even think about it most of the time. You do those things a prudent man would do, and I live with it.” Asked what he would have for breakfast at Nora’s Fish Creek Inn, his favorite pre-fishing spot in Wilson, Wyoming, Cheney responds without missing a beat: “I’d probably have two eggs over easy, sausage and hash browns,” then hastens to add that that is not his normal breakfast. “The day I go fishing, I get off my diet,” he says.” At a roundtable lunch with reporters a couple of years ago, two who were present tell Purdum that Cheney cut his buffalo steak in bite-size pieces the moment it arrived, then proceeded to salt each side of each piece.
Cheney tells Purdum that he has not changed over the years, but perhaps many of his contemporaries think he has “because of my associations over the years, or because I came across as a reasonable guy, people have one view of me that was not necessarily an accurate reflection of my philosophy or my view of the world.”
Purdum asks Cheney if, during his “darkest night,” he has even “a little doubt” about the administration’s course. “No,” he tells Purdum. “I think we’ve done what needed to be done.” Of the debate over whether or not the administration hyped the pre-war intelligence, Cheney says, “In the end, you can argue about the quality of the intelligence and so forth, but ... I look at that whole spectrum of possibilities and options, and I think we did the right thing.”
Cheney rejects the caricature of him as the power behind the throne, insisting, “I think we have created a system that works for this president and for me, in terms of my ability to be able to contribute and participate in the process.” When Purdum says that the cartoon characterization of him must not be accurate, Cheney says, “My image might be better out there, this caricature you talk about might be avoided, if I spent more time as a public figure trying to improve my image, but that’s not why I’m here.”
Purdum reports that Cheney travels with a chemical-biological suit at all times. When he gave his friend Robin West and his twin children a ride to the White House a couple of years ago, West commented on the fact that Cheney’s motorcade varied its daily path. “And he said, ‘Yeah, we take different routes so that “The Jackal” can’t get me,’” West tells Purdum. “And then there was this big duffel bag in the middle of the backseat, and I said, ‘What’s that? It’s not very roomy in here.’ And [Cheney] said, ‘No, because it’s a chemical-biological suit,’ and he looked at it and said, ‘Robin, there’s only one. You lose.’”
Purdum talks with former New York Times reporter and former executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, James Naughton, who asks of Cheney: “Does he acknowledge that he is not as pleasant as he used to be?” Naughton knew Cheney as a fellow prankster during the 1976 campaign, and all but sighs in search of an explanation as to why he is so different now. “I guess I would like to believe,” he says, “without any evidence to support it, that coming very close to death has somehow compelled him to act as though he only has so much breath and so much life, that he’s only got so much time to accomplish what he has to do. But the public figure is nothing like the private one that I remember.”
Gerald Ford tells Purdum: “He may have changed a bit, but that was required for the change of circumstances.” Ford, who will turn 93 in July, adds, “Times change, and people change as a result of that.”
“If you’re looking for a change from one point to another, being vice president is sui generis,” Lynne Cheney tells Purdum. “It’s not quite like any other job.”
The June issue of Vanity Fair hits newsstands in New York and L.A. on May 3 and nationally on May 9.
Does God coddle sinners or allow them to reap what they've sown? Does He allow consequences for sin?
No, he still loves us all. He is there, every moment, loving us and ready to forgive us.
You have to ask for forgiveness. If you're never told you sin, why would you ask for forgiveness?
If I reject my child and cast him out of my home, I lose all opportunity to show my great love and hope for him.
I never have said to cast a child from their home. BUT....do you allow their sin to take place in your home? Isn't that the same as approval?
There are consequences for sin and God, for all His love, does NOT shield us from those consequences.
Yep. Mary Cheney being a lesbian is because the Republicans have done noting about immigration.
That sounds like something that should be part of one of those online bullsh!t creators.
I thought Christ said that he'd tell his father he never knew us (meaning those who sinned and repented not)???
I'm of the same belief...
Then you disagree with my gay brother who says it's about selfish desires.
Thank you for sharing your story. We all have things happen in our lives that make a profound difference in the way we look at things. I had a dear friend that lost a child to suicide because his family disowned him. He didn't live up to their standards of what a son should be. People just don't realize what effects their harsh words 'in the name of the Lord' can do. I'm not meaning you, btw. We should never give up the 'hard work' of changing the world to be more like Jesus would want it. I just think we can be more inviting in our methods sometimes.
You said," Almost no one in the entire world really wants to help these people. They are sin accomplices. Enablers."
We are a world full of enablers. Unfortunately, in my opinion, enablers come hidden in different packages. There are the obvious ones that stick their heads in the sand and let others do as they will. (I think this is probably what you were referring to re: Cheney) I refer to them as "life's designated drivers". There are others that enable by building a wall between the self-proclaimed do-gooders and evil-doers. The wall-builders stand on their soapboxes proclaiming their version of the Bible; shoving their beliefs and opinions down the throats of all that will stand still. In doing so, they simply push those on the other side of the wall deeper into the dark. Perhaps if more people would come down from the pedastal and reach out a hand, they could lead someone to safetly. Instead, they shove them off the cliff they are teetering on.
Don't rearrange the words. Romans 1:1 is the words of Paul. I want the words of God directly. Give me a direct quote.
"Yes, Romans chapter 1 IS explicit."
Even though those are the words of Paul. Post where he says homos will go to hell. In particular, the relevant part of Roman's 1:1 is a story about bad people that reject God. If you've been following the matter pertains to condemnaiton of a Christian homo.
Do you really think that a child who is a homosexual is doing it to hurt their parents? Do you think they could be heterosexual if only they chose to?
Your brand of Christianity is Pharasaism by another name, constantly pointing out the splinters in everybody else's eyes.
You won't talk about love because you don't know the first thing about it, at least as far as how God loves.
You can spout Scripture, but you use the Word of God as a weapon, beating sinners over the head with it.
God help you. I really mean that.
I find it ironically humorous that those who cry the loudest that no one should judge Mary Cheney or her Dad are the quickest to judge Alan Keyes.
Where I come from, we call that hypocrisy.
It gets them attention? It's also very much about self-indulgence. That last was just said by my brother.
If what you are saying is true, what was Jesus refering to when he said "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth to life, and few there are that find it."?
I SO hate that. And the Bush's fault stuff. LOL
Where you under the impression that it wasn't one?
Your problem is that you start with a false premise.
Truth is, he never 'threw her out'.
The whole time everyone who hates Alan, including you, was saying that he had 'thrown her out', the young lady was living in her father's condo in Chicago. The one he paid for.
So, your post is a good example of "garbage in, garbage out."
Not the impression. The certainty. Perhaps you should read them until they're not so scary.
That quote from Randall Terry about his homosexual son Jamiel was taken from this interview:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14449_3.html
It's clear that the sadness and embarrassment aren't just from Jamiel's "being gay," but from the fact that Jamiel sold an interview to Out Magazine which included pictues of the Terry family. Randall experienced this as a betrayal of trust and an invasion of privacy, carried out by Jamiel because Out Magazine paid him a significant amount of money.
" Just a finding of fact that in her experience and opinion, they were all weird. Gutless me didn't comment further. Maybe I figured I would always have time."
Isn't that the truth - we always think we have more time.
I don't know any gay people personally. I know some - not PERsonally. I don't approve. I wouldn't like my daughter to be one. My observances of the ones I do see, is that many are struggling with themselves. Some have used this to become more .....well, simply, to get attention, to strike out at family, or many times to be part of a 'movement' that gives them a sense of belonging. I don't think any I know have taken this route in life out of a lustful, disgusting desire for sexual deviance. I understand that doesn't make it less of a sin. As with many situations we get into, once we start it, it becomes very hard to get out. Nobody wants you in the hetero world, and nobody in the gay community wants a 'part-time' gay. That's a bad influence, ya know.
I totally agree with the remark about their belief the government, not God, decided the right and wrong of the issue.
Yes, the sheep and the goats. God became man and dwelt among us to teach. Those that learn from Him are His sheep. It's one of many passages that expand on the fundamental statement regarding damnation. That has not been given yet.
Not unusual.
The children of prominent Christian conservatives are overt targets of gay recruiters, and once they've snared their prey, they almost without exception exploit these naive kids for political ends.
The young Ms. Keyes was recruited at Brown University.
That doesn't remove the responsibility of the kids themselves, of course...but I have a hunch that when it's all said and done, they generally regret having been used to get at their parents.
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