You’ve no doubt heard that Mary Cheney is the publishing industry’s newest million dollar baby. I’m doubtful that anyone’s memoir is worth a million dollar advance, but it will be interesting to see whether Cheney choses to write through the prism of orientation or if she’ll continue to use the clearly neutered filter of being a Republican insider.
As I read the NYT piece about both the book deal and Simon and Schuster’s Threshold line, I saw the real news lie not solely with Cheney but with Mary Matalin. She’s not being called an editor-in-chief, but she’s certainly the person shepherding the line into existence. And look what she says about Cheney speaking her mind:
“She had to remain reticent and her parents had to remain very reticent until the 2004 campaign was over because she had a job to do. We all had jobs to do,” Ms. Matalin said. (emphasis, mine)
I find Matalin’s last few words quite telling. As the NYT notes, Matalin was part of what was effectively a Gay-Straight Alliance for Republicans, namely the Republican Party Unity. She reportedly opposed the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage yet never publicly spoke against it.
Which is something many Republicans party insiders did during the last election. Why? Because winning was more important than personal principles. Putting Bush back in the White House meant everything — even if it meant pandering to homophobes. And if Americablog is right, we have plenty of queers working in the Bush administration, all of them closeted to preserve those ties with homophobic voters. (And let’s not forget Jeff Gannon-Gucket, Mr. Backdoor Man if ever there was one. He’s symptomatic and symbolic of the Bush administration’s tangled inclusion policies.)
So they had a job to do then. How about now? Matalin claims she wants the Threshold line to document the changing nature of conservatism and so I must ask: Will she guide enough of the line along Republican Party Unity lines and challenge the party to true inclusivity? Or will she, by virtue of keeping her mouth shut, passively endorsed the continued pandering to the religious right? When, I ask, will principle matter more than winning?
Matalin has the chance to transform the Republican Party by virtue of her role with the Threshold lines. She has the chance to let those voices speak to a party whose pandering has not only marginalized them but demonized them as well. She has a change to show the party that they can’t have it both ways and that they lose many Republican Free-Thinkers when they pander to the religious right. (Hell, they lost my vote the moment Bush put the words “support” and “constitutional amendment” in the same sentence.)
I hope Matalin seizes the opportunity and runs with it, but I suspect we’ll have to wait for Cheney’s book to see just whether queer inclusion will be out and proud or a throw-back to the days of Roy Cohn.
Mary, you have a new job to do now. Say now what you couldn’t say then. Please.
