Expedience or Honesty?

The Note

This morning's Note suggests two questions that Dick Cheney better get ready to answer now that the cat's out of the bag regarding his disagreement with President Bush on gay marriage:

1. Mr Cheney, it is not like you and the president disagree on gas prices--some people see this as a fundamental and very personal issue. Are you saying you will support your boss even though he wants to discriminate against your daughter as long as you are confident that the effort will fail? Are you aware that yours and the presidents re-election supporters have said they won't give up on this issue no matter what happens in Congress this year?
2. Mr. Cheney, what would you say to other families who don't want their loved ones to face the proposal being pushed by the president? Vote for us anyway because the president will drop it next year? Vote for us because other issues are more important? What would you say to those families?

Seems reasonable to me. Meanwhile, the debate over whether this is intended to reassure moderate voters that they can back Bush or represents the honest answer of a man who slipped momentarily into his role as a concerned father continues. Based on the question Cheney was asked, as quoted here, it's hard to see this a political, as I first thought:

Cheney spoke in response to a questioner who asked, “I would like to know, sir, from your heart--I don't want to know what your advisers say, or even what your top adviser thinks--but I need to know: What do you think about homosexual marriages?”

Will this have an impact on the party as a whole? Doubtful. But at least it puts the issue back on the table in a more positive light. Here's hoping Cheney gets those two questions above at one of his town hall meetings and has to answer them. I'd love to hear him denounce his own crazy supporters. Better yet, it would be great to hear him tell the crowd that if he weren't on the ticket and still had a gay family member, he'd vote for the other guy, too.