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Cheney's Gay Problem

By Jeremy Derfner
Updated Friday, Aug. 4, 2000, at 8:30 PM ET

New Republic

New Republic, Aug. 14

The GOP convention issue. … An article contrasts Dick Cheney's anti-gay voting record with his expressed love for his openly lesbian daughter. Perhaps the Cheneys are truly conflicted about homosexuality (which is bad enough), or perhaps they have accepted it but refuse to say so publicly for reasons of political expediency (which would be truly despicable). … A piece explains why the Christian right has high hopes for George W. He speaks the language of values, talks about God all the time, and might be able to turn the Supreme Court around on abortion. … An article chronicles the making of a black Republican superstar, Paul Harris, the Virginia state legislator who opened the GOP convention. Black Democrats called him an Uncle Tom; the Republican Party, still the party of whites, shamelessly used him to appear inclusive. … Lawrence Lessig claims that Microsoft misused his analysis of a 1998 court of appeals decision in its latest brief. He maintains that the ruling, which Microsoft continues to use as a major element of its defense, has no bearing whatsoever on the question of whether the company violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Economist

Economist, Aug. 5

The cover story heralds the coming of micropower—networks of small power plants to replace the big, old centralized plants. Deregulation has broken up electricity monopolies, and micropower is cheaper (because less electricity is lost in transmission), environmentally sound, and more reliable. … A piece declares the Internet boom in Europe over. When the Nasdaq crashed, European venture capital dried up. Now the best dot-coms are buying up competitors in different countries and forging pan-European business empires. … An article expresses hope that relations between China and Taiwan may be improving. Recently the Chinese have taken a less hard-line stance than before, because privately they think they can do business with new Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and because they have to be on their best behavior as they enter the World Trade Organization.

New York Times Magazine

New York Times Magazine, Aug. 6

The cover story tells how two jurisdictions screwed up and sent an innocent mentally ill man to maximum-security prison. When Los Angeles police arrested Kerry Sanders for trespassing, they mistook him for escaped convict Robert Sanders and extradited him to New York, where he spent two years in prison before the real Robert Sanders was rearrested in Cleveland. Ignoring Kerry's almost-daily protestations of innocence, authorities never bothered to compare fingerprints or photographs of Kerry and Robert. … A piece examines "mooks," disaffected white kids who listen to heavy metal/hip-hop fusion and are obsessed with pornography and professional wrestling. The movement has distorted the "righteous anger" of rap music into a testosterone-soaked excuse to behave outrageously and often violently.

Newsweek and Time

Newsweek and Time, Aug. 7

The top news mags mirror one another, publishing Republican National Convention special issues and applauding the choice of Dick Cheney for VP while criticizing the George W. Bush campaign for being caught off guard by Democratic attacks on his conservative voting record. Time says Bush picked Cheney mainly because he liked him personally; Newsweek speculates that Bush wanted an insider who could offer governing experience to an inexperienced administration. Both Time and Newsweek run long profiles of Bush with a special focus on his relationship with his politically dynastic family. He has tried to make himself a real Texan instead of an East Coast preppie like his father and grandfather (and in many ways his years at Andover, Yale, and Harvard were alienating), but he is still very close to his father and imbued with his patrician sensibilities. Time runs an interview with George W.; Newsweek runs one with George H.W. Newsweek portrays George W. Bush as a political schmoozer who would act like a CEO if elected and leave policy to trusted advisers.

The Nation

The Nation, Aug. 7 and 14

A piece reports the far right's grudging support of George W. Bush. Religious righties Paul Weyrich and Phyllis Schlafly are openly balking, wishing he was tougher on abortion, but most of their peers are pushing for Bush in hopes of sending the Clintonites packing. Just how inspired they are to work the grass roots is still an open question. … An article calls the Bush tax cut and social security privatization plan watered-down Reaganomics. Though Bush and his top economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, talk some about helping the working poor and providing them with some actual relief, the foundation of their policy is a wealth transfer to the rich.

National Review

National Review, Aug. 14

Thirteen articles criticizing Al Gore. … A piece describes Gore as the family political drone. Reared to be an electoral ornament, Gore is paralyzed between love and hate for his populist father and has forged a politics that strangely mixes pragmatism and moralistic inflexibility. … A piece says Gore's attacks on drug companies will slow the war against cancer. … Another argues that Gore's worst legacy is the racial divide, which he has widened with years of fanatical rhetoric.

Weekly Standard

Weekly Standard, Aug. 7

The convention special issue. An article ridicules the notion that the Internet is changing the political conventions. They are already unspeakably boring, and the weirdly overdone Net coverage will further turn the conventions into speciality gimmicks that have little impact on American political culture. … A piece previews Bush's Thursday night speech and calls it one of four keys to a Bush victory. The speech was first drafted in June, and since then Bush has been experimenting with ways to make it more personal. … An article reports that the usual pre-convention battle over the abortion plank in the Republican platform was cut short. Platform hearings this year took two days instead of the usual four, helping Bush keep the troubling issue in the background. Nominally he opposes abortion, but pro-choice Republicans are confident that he's much closer to their point of view than he can let on.

The New Yorker

The New Yorker, Aug. 7

An article about Storm Cat, one of the top studs in the horse breeding business, reports that his services cost $300,000 and require the assistance of five breeding-shed professionals and approximately 15 seconds. Storm Cat has sired 714 ponies, including Tabasco Cat, who won the Preakness and the Belmont in 1994. (Slate ran a similar stud story in 1997.) … A piece explores doctor burnout. Between 3 percent and 5 percent of doctors are too stressed to see patients, but the system fails to police them. Doctor discipline falls mostly to other doctors who try to help them quietly while they continue to hurt their patients. … The first of two installments of unpublished Kenneth Tynan journals reveal that the theater critic was what you assumed: hedonistic, brilliant, prolific, and given to sadomasochism.

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Jeremy Derfner is a former Slate editorial assistant.
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