The New York Times reports today that Mary Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Cheney, “has sold the rights to a memoir to Simon & Schuster for an advance.” According to the Times, Mary said
The first time I campaigned with my father I was 8 years old. . . . I’ve been involved with campaigns as a family member, a staffer, and though I certainly never intended it, as a political target for the other side. It’s been an amazing experience – uplifting, frustrating, educational and always entertaining.
I am looking forward to this book for a number of reasons, particularly to get the perspective this bright woman on campaigning and politics, but also because she will present “a portrait of the vice president different from his public persona.” A longtime fan of the Vice President (long before he became Vice President), I regret that he has gotten a bum rap in the media. Hopefully, this book will correct many of the misperceptions of this good and wise man.
Although he has been savaged by many on the left, including numerous gay activists, the Vice President loves his daughter even as he knows she’s a lesbian. He and his wife have welcomed Mary and her partner into the family, inviting both to sit in their box at the Republican National Convention, up on stage when the president declared victory last November and into VIP seats at the president’s second inaugural just two months ago.
The Times reports further
Mary Cheney’s memoir is first book planned in a new line of titles about conservative politics and current events, overseen by Mary Matalin, a political consultant and close adviser to the Cheney family. Ms. Matalin was not involved in making the book deal, she and others said.
Matalin commented “I am doing a handful of books that reflect the breadth of conservatism today . . . and I think she represents that, and she represents it beyond the narrow casting of ‘she is a gay Republican.'”
This blog welcomes anything which shows the true breadth — and I would add, depth — of American conservatism. Gay conservative bloggers know all too well about the “narrow casting” of those who reduce us to our political label, those who sneer at us when we come out as gay Republicans.
It seems Mary Cheney’s memoir will do much to advance the causes this blog has promoted as it presents a more accurate picture of the Vice President and his family.
I can’t wait until it comes out.
Hat tip: lgbt-politics listserv.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com