Afternoon Greg: Susan Boyle on the mend; Cheney suddenly an advocate for gay marriage?

Happy Monday all.

I’m thinking about poor Susan Boyle on this gloomy June day and hope that she can just chill out for awhile and get her bearings back. After the finale of Britain’s Got Talent where she finished as runner-up in a shocking upset, Susan needed medical attention for exhaustion. She reportedly had not been sleeping or eating properly for some time.

Her quiet life in Scotland clearly got turned upside down in recent months and becoming an international star at 48 has got to mess with your head a bit. My pal Henry Chu has a story on the front of today’s Calendar section of the LA Times and in it writes that one British tab loud estimates Susan could make as much as $8 million in the next year with a recording, TV appearances, and product endorsements.

I do hope Susan reaps the financial rewards that await her but I hope she does it on her own terms and in some ways, remains that woman from a small Scottish village that the world fell in love with.

Henry quotes Times of London column by Libby Purves who writes that Susan’s runner-up finish was “probably for the best. … (She) can continue to prosper in the lower wattage of the spotlight.”

Anyway, Susan was gracious in defeat.

“The best people won. That’s showbiz.” And then she did a little shimmy, lifting her skirt to show a bit of leg as she walked off the stage, smiling.

She added later: “What a journey.”

WHAT A DICK: Former Vice President Dick Cheney is one of the most loathsome politicians I’ve seen in my lifetime and he has done nothing to support gay rights other than, I suppose, not disowning his gay daughter Mary Cheney. So now, as President Barack Obama remains silent on marriage equality despite the debate raging across the country, Cheney has continued his recent – and 0dd – media blitz. I’d much prefer he stay low-profile, like George W. Bush, as the country tries to repair itself after their disastrous eight years.

Anyway, now suddenly Cheney is okay with gay marriage and even brought up his gay daughter while expressing his opinion on it. There was a time, remember, when anyone who asked Cheney about lesbian Mary was way out of line – including John Edwards at the 2004 VP debate.

Here is what he said today at the National Press Club: “Freedom means freedom for everyone. Many of you know one of my daughters is gay – something we’ve lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there should be a federal statue that governs this, I don’t support. I do believe that historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. … But I don’t have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that.”

So why not a word about it the entire time he was in office? Too little, too late.  Now go back to your undisclosed location and stay there.

HOT STUFF: To get the thought of Dick Cheney out of our minds, here is a pic I saw on AfterElton.com that seemed just too fun not to post. Those rugby players sure have all the fun!