Mary Moves On As Scooter Squirms

[movieguy]

Mary Moves On As Scooter Squirms

by Paul Johnson 365Gay.com Washington Bureau Chief

Posted: October 28, 2005 1:00 pm ET

(Washington) As a federal grand jury indictment was reportedly being prepared Friday against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President d*** Cheney's top adviser, one of the Vice President's other advisors, lesbian daughter Mary Cheney is getting ready to move on.

Mary has been hired by America Online for a newly created position. The hiring comes as AOL was preparing pink slips for some 7,000 workers.

The company won't say exactly what she will do at the company, except that she will answer directly to AOL Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis and assist in managing the advertising, e-commerce and search engines. But reports indicate she will help the company develop LGBT content.

An AOL spokesperson declined to say how much she will be paid.

"The selection of Mary Cheney to serve America Online is another demonstration that gay and lesbian citizens are productive participants in American society. As such, they deserve the same rights and responsibilities afforded to every other citizen. The Bush/Cheney Administration continues to advocate the denial of these rights to people like Mary Cheney simply because of their sexual orientation," Stonewall Democrats spokesperson John Marble told 365Gay.com.

"This administration desperately needs an advocate to counter the anti-gay advice given by their right wing supporters. Its a shame no one has yet fulfilled that role."

Mary Cheney has a graduate business degree from the University of Denver. She has worked at Coors Brewing to help it improve its image in the gay community. When her father became President Bush's running mate in 2000 she ran operations in her dad's campaign office.

While she was highly visible in the 2000 campaign Mary Cheney was mostly invisible in 2004.

During a 2004 campaign stop in Davenport, Iowa, d*** Cheney was asked about the President's support for a proposed amendment to the US Constitution. Cheney said he thought the issue should be left to the states, prefacing the remark with "Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it's an issue our family is very familiar with." (story)

At the GOP National Convention when Republican Senate hopeful Alan Keyes accused Mary Cheney of being a "sinner" and a "selfish hedonist" d*** and Lynne Cheney were silent. (story)

Following d*** Cheney's acceptance speech at the convention the Vice President's family appeared on the stage - all but Mary Cheney who had been in the hall for the speech. Her absence led LGBT commentators to openly question whether she was being hidden away. (story)

During the vice presidential debate when the issue of same-sex marriage came up Vice President Cheney said that "people ought to be free to choose any arrangement they want." (story)

Democratic VP candidate John Edwards replied saying it was obvious that the Cheneys loved their daughter and that "you can't have anything but respect" for them. "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and so does John Kerry," Edwards said.

That night Cheney thanked Edwards for the "kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much."

But, when John Kerry brought up Mary Cheney's name during the last presidential debate with Bush the Cheney family went on the offensive. Within an hour of Kerry's remark Lynne Cheney accused Kerry of pulling a "cheap and tawdry political trick." (story) The following morning the vice president called himself a "pretty angry father".

Since then Mary Cheney has remained mostly out of sight.

In March, though, Simon & Schuster announced she would write a memoir. (story) It will be edited by Mary Matalin, a longtime Republican advisor.

Scooter Libby's troubles - eight charges of lying to a federal grand jury - arise from the leak of the name of a CIA undercover operative. Libby immediately resigned and left the White House. The scandal has also enveloped Karl Rove, President Bush's close advisor and the architect of the GOP's 2004 campaign of gay bashing to get conservative votes. Rove has not been indicted, sources close to the CIA case say he remains under investigation.

The CIA scandal is only one of several weighing down the Republican Party.

Last month House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was indicted on conspiracy charges in Texas and was forced to step down from his leadership role. DeLay was once of the architects of the Federal Marriage Amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

The main advocate of the FMA in the Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Penn), meanwhile is under investigation for possible insider trading in a stock sale.

Also under investigation is Special Counsel Scott Bloch, a Bush appointee. Bloch's whose office is responsible for protecting the workplace civil rights of federal employees is being probed by Inspector General Patrick McFarland (story) for refusing to take cases of harassment against LGBT workers. He is also accused of issuing gag orders, cronyism, invidious discrimination, and retaliation.

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