Zell Miller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: In 1991, Miller endorsed Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas for President of the United States. Miller gave the keynote speech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In two oft-recalled lines, Miller said that President George H. W. Bush "just doesn't get it," and he remarked of a statement by Vice President Dan Quayle:
"I know what Dan Quayle means when he says it's best for children to have two parents. You bet it is! And it would be nice for them to have trust funds, too. We can't all be born rich and handsome and lucky. And that's why we have a Democratic Party. My family would still be isolated and destitute if we had not had F.D.R.'s Democratic brand of government. I made it because Franklin Delano Roosevelt energized this nation. I made it because Harry Truman fought for working families like mine. I made it because John Kennedy's rising tide lifted even our tiny boat. I made it because Lyndon Johnson showed America that people who were born poor didn't have to die poor. And I made it because a man with whom I served in the Georgia Senate, a man named Jimmy Carter, brought honesty and decency and integrity to public service."Upon leaving the Governor's office in January 1999, Miller accepted teaching positions at Young Harris College, Emory University, and the University of Georgia. He was a visiting professor at all three institutions when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate.
Throughout Zell Miller's career as a U.S. Senator he showed increasing support for Republicans and increasing criticism of Democrats, leading some to question whether his fellow Democrats in the Senate had given him a lukewarm reception. However, given his beginnings as a conservative southern Democrat, it is likely he found his views drastically different from the more liberal ideology of the national party.
During 2001 and 2002, when liberal Republican senators from New England like James Jeffords and Lincoln Chafee threatened to (and in Jeffords' case, did) leave their party over ideological disputes, rumors abounded that Miller would become a Republican in order to return control of the Senate to that party. These rumors were dispelled with Miller saying, "I'll be a Democrat 'til the day I die."
In 2004, he cosponsored the Federal Marriage Amendment to the United States Constitution. If it had been ratified, it would have declared that marriage in the United States only consists of the union of a man and a woman, and would have prohibited state and the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and same-sex domestic partnerships.
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ZELL MILLER
BUSH ERA
MARRIAGE AMENDMENT
CONSPIRACY
MARY CHENEY
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Mary Claire Cheney (born March 14, 1969) is the second daughter of Dick Cheney, the former Vice President of the United States, and his wife, Lynne Cheney. She is openly lesbian, has voiced support for same-sex marriage, and has been credited with encouraging her father to support same-sex marriage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Cheney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Cheney
2000 Presidential campaign
In 2000, the Bush-Cheney Presidential campaign freely discussed Elizabeth Cheney's marriage and children, but they treated Mary Cheney's private life as off-limits. Nevertheless, Cheney's sexual orientation was publicly known, and some considered her presence during the campaign as bolstering, providing the Republican ticket with a "compassionate conservative" image. During an interview with Lynne Cheney, Cokie Roberts brought up the topic of Mary Cheney's having declared herself a lesbian. Mrs. Cheney responded by stating that "Mary has never declared such a thing," and criticized Roberts and the media for their interest in the story.
In 2004, public attention focused again on Cheney's sexuality when the Bush administration supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would limit marriage to heterosexual couples and also ban civil unions and domestic partnership benefits. Cheney did not publicly express her opinion of the amendment at the time. In her 2006 autobiography Now It's My Turn, Cheney stated her opposition to the amendment. However, at the time, she remained silent to support Bush's re-election bid.
2004 Presidential re-election campaign
During the 2004 Presidential re-election campaign for the Bush-Cheney administration during which Cheney served as her father's director of vice presidential operations, the subject of her sexual orientation arose again.
Both Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and vice-presidential candidate John Edwards mentioned and praised Cheney's openness with regard to her sexual orientation when questioned regarding gay issues. Some commentators viewed these remarks as a cynical appeal to residual homophobia among blue-collar voters in key swing states.[10]
The 2004 presidential election debates included mentions of the same-sex marriage debate and referred, initially indirectly, to Cheney.
During the Cheney-Edwards Vice-Presidential Debate, moderator Gwen Ifill asked a question to the Vice President in which his daughter was indirectly mentioned:
| “ | I want to read something you said four years ago at this very setting: ‘Freedom means freedom for everybody.’ You said it again recently when you were asked about legalizing same-sex unions. And you used your family's experience as a context for your remarks. Can you describe then your administration's support for a constitutional ban on same-sex unions?[11] | ” |
Dick Cheney reiterated his position of four years prior, stating the issue should be left to the states but that he supports the Bush administration. He did not mention his family nor his daughter in his immediate response to the question. In response, Edwards said:
| “ | I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much. And you can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her. It's a wonderful thing. And there are millions of parents like that who love their children, who want their children to be happy. | ” |
Although he was given 90 seconds to respond to Edwards' comments, Dick Cheney responded succinctly, “Well, Gwen, let me simply thank the senator for the kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much.” Ms. Ifill followed up: “That's it?” The vice president replied, "That's it," effectively ending the discussion of his daughter's sexual orientation.[11] At the end of the debate, Mary Cheney appeared on the podium with her partner and the rest of the family.
During the third and final Bush-Kerry Presidential Debate, moderator Bob Schieffer asked, “Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?” John Kerry replied, "If you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as.”[12] This prompted an angry response from Dick Cheney, who stated, “You saw a man who will say and do anything in order to get elected. And I am not just speaking as a father here, though I am a pretty angry father.”
2006 interviews and autobiography
Mary Cheney left the public spotlight after the 2004 election until May 4, 2006, when she gave an interview with Diane Sawyer for ABC News' Primetime program.[14] Cheney did the interview to garner publicity for her autobiography titled Now It's My Turn. In the biography, Cheney discusses how she came out to her parents, noting her father's initial reaction: "You know, look, you're my daughter and I love you and I just want you to be happy." She also discusses her relationship with her partner, Heather Poe.
Gay rights advocates criticized her for waiting until after the 2004 election to voice her disapproval of George W. Bush's positions on gay rights. Noted gay columnist Dan Savage referred to her in his column as a "useless dyke." During Mary Cheney's May 19, 2006, appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Letterman addressed some of the issues raised by the gay community. He questioned Cheney on why she waited two years after the 2004 election to speak publicly about gay marriage and rights. He also asked whether she had any input on her father's administration regarding gay issues. Cheney responded that she did not, and that it is not her job to do so
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