Kerry Digs Deep - Will it be His Political Grave?

Hugh Hewitt posed two questions for this weekend: How deep a hole have John Kerry, Mary Beth Cahill and the Edwards dug for themselves? How lasting the damage?

There are a number of damaging problems for the democrat team, precipitating from Kerry's answer to the homosexuality question that was put to him.

1. Kerry put words into Mary Cheney's mouth. Mary Cheney in not being a publicly outspoken figure, and not having expressed a point of view regarding her sexuality, has a point of view which no-one can claim to have knowledge. For Kerry to have blundered into stating what he believed she would think, was idiotic. The longer Mary Cheney remains silent, the longer the Kerry team will be in the hole... they are unable to undo the claim they made.

2. Kerry was not bipartisan in his view on the origins of homosexuality. Bush answering first, gave the non-committal answer which for this question was appropriate. As far as we know, there has never been conclusive evidence to support either genetic propensity, or behavioral conditioning for sexuality. Kerry in his eagerness to disagree with everything Bush, decided to take a stand.

I think if you talk to anybody, it's not choice.

The arrogance for Kerry to assume that anybody would agree with this position is damaging. Bush had just said that he did not know - a stance that would have resonated with a number of viewers - and then Kerry claimed that anybody would agree that it is NOT a choice. He did not need to say what he did, and he would have nullified Bush's argument, as well as given him a chance to rebut Bush's stance on defining marriage through the legislature. Instead, he decided to continue answering the question as it stood...

3. Kerry revealed a troubling rationale (see earlier post). Kerry respects people who pursue their own image of "who they felt God had made them".

And I've met wives who are supportive of their husbands or vice versa when they
finally sort of broke out and allowed themselves to live who they were, who they
felt God had made them.
I think we have to respect that.

In other words, it was ok for the couple where one spouse felt that they were homosexual to break from that relationship, and pursue a homosexual relation... whether it involved the dissolution of that marriage he doesn't state. It is troubling that the next president could be one who allows states to decide and define marriage however they like. What happens when one state decides that the type of rationale Kerry put forward during the debate, allows for bisexuals to marry one of each gender, because it...

"allowed themselves to live who they were, who they felt God had made
them."

or the incestuous family to marry each other, because somehow it...

"allowed themselves to live who they were, who they felt God had made them."

Kerry's thinking is loose and dangerous. I think that this could potentially be more damaging than the statements that he made regarding Mary Cheney.

4. Kerry is prodding a sleeping giant. The number of evangelical Christians who did not vote at the last election has been reported as 30 million! If only a portion of these voters decided to turn up and cast their ballot, there would be the largest victory to Bush. Why? A high percentage of evangelicals are conservative. Kerry by stating that God made people with a homosexual leaning might be enough to have these voters turn up and vote against Kerry. Well... we'll see

Whether these comments have lasting damage to Kerry's campaign remains to be seen. The statements have been careless, and are some of the few that Kerry and Edwards have made on the subject during this campaign. Further inquiry could see their campaign implode with additional stray comments.

the king of the Hill email me