The Wash Blade tells Cheney to go Cheney himself:
Washington Blade
October 14, 2004
Lynne Cheney rebukes Kerry for debate remark
Ever since ABC's Cokie Roberts first asked Lynne Cheney four years ago about Mary, her lesbian daughter, the vice president's wife has consistently bristled at any public discussion of her daughter's sexual orientation.
But last night, after John Kerry followed his running mate's lead and cited Mary Cheney in support of the proposition that homosexuality is not a choice, Lynne Cheney struck back, and publicly. The Washington Post reports that in a post-debate rally in Pittsburgh, she called the reference "a cheap and tawdry political trick" that led her to conclude Kerry "is not a good man."
Lynne Cheney claimed to be speaking "as a mom," but her criticism falls flat. Mary Cheney isn't just the vice president's daughter; she runs his re-election campaign. And she isn't just gay, she was the gay liaison for Coors Brewing Co., and she helped co-found the Republican Unity Coalition, a GOP alliance of gays and gay-friendly heterosexuals. After the vice presidential debate last week, she appeared with her partner on stage with the rest of the Cheney clan.
Whether or not Lynne Cheney is embarrassed by public discussion of her daughter's sexual orientation - and obviously she is - the president's horrid gay rights record makes it valid political fodder. Kerry's reference to Mary Cheney was no doubt intended to put the president on the defensive, but since when is that a "cheap and tawdry political trick"?
In fact, Kerry would have been fully justified in going even further, calling the president to task for not listening to Mary's father, his vice president - who clearly has more up-close familiarity with gay relationships and their threat to "family" - on the issue of a federal marriage amendment. Like Kerry, Dick Cheney supports leaving the issue to the states to decide.
So who is the "good man" here: John Kerry, who points out the vice president's daughter isn't lesbian by choice and deserves equal treatment? Or George Bush, who reminded Americans last night to be compassionate toward gays and "respect someone's rights" even as he justified efforts to write discrimination into the nation's founding document?
