Mary Cheney calls John Kerry a "son of a bitch" for using gays for political gain, but not a word about George Bush or dear old dad doing the same

Welcome to Mary Cheney's million-dollar closet. It's still a bit stuffy in here as a lot of things haven't been totally cleared out.

For someone who has been "out" for a decade, Mary still shows major signs of just-coming-out syndrome. It's what Jeff Gannon is going through, and what many if not most gays go through (especially conservative ones) when they first come to terms with being gay. They start being publicly gay, sometimes say good things, but more often than not their internalized homophobia comes slipping out.

A newbie's coming out experience is usually indicated by one or more of the following utterances:

1. I'm not one of those "activists." (I.e., I don't do anything to defend my rights, so I belittle people who do in order to make myself feel better.)
2. Sure I'm gay, but it's not all I am, I'm other things too. (I.e., I'm still a bit embarrassed about who I am and about the fact that I'm not an activist).
3. Why can't gay people be more "normal," like me? (Normal means hiding out in the suburbs.)
4. I'm not a single-issue voter. (I.e., I still vote Republican and the only issue I DON'T take account when voting is "me.")
5. Republicans don't really hate gay people, they just "have" to vote the way they do for politics. (I.e., I still vote Republican.)
6. Democrats, sure they vote FOR gay people, but they're not perfect either. (I.e., I know Republicans trash gays 90% of the time and the Dems help gays 90% of the time, but I still need to justify why I vote for a party that hates me.)

With that in mind, check out what Mary had to say about Kerry and Edwards. Regardless of what you think of how Kerry and Edwards handled the "Mary is gay" thing during the debate, it's Mary's analysis of the situation that is so telling:

"What was offensive was that [Kerry] was obviously trying to use me and my sexual orientation for his own political gain."

Of course, the reason Kerry and Edwards mentioned Mary's gayness is because George Bush decided to use gays as a, if not "the," political issue of the 2004 elections. How did Mary react to Bush using her sexual orientation for his own political gain?

In her interview with Diane Sawyer, Cheney said of Bush: "I think he's a very good man On these issues, he hasn't caught up."

Now you have a much larger window into Mary's mind, and closet. In her own personal Stockholm Syndrome, the gay-bashers who started the fight are good people who just haven't "caught up" yet. The gay-defenders fighting back are "sons of bitches," "slime," and need to "go fuck" themselves" (see Mary's quotes below).

Cheney saves her harshest words for Bush's 2004 opponents, calling Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry a "son of a bitch'' and his running mate, John Edwards, a "total slime'' for discussing her sexual orientation during nationally televised debates during the campaign....

In her interview with Diane Sawyer, Cheney said of Bush: "I think he's a very good man. On these issues, he hasn't caught up.''

Cheney is less generous to Kerry and Edwards, who she accuses of "sleazy'' politics for mentioning she was gay during debates with Bush and her father.

"John Kerry didn't 'out me', nor did he offend or attack me by calling me a lesbian. It wasn't a secret that I was gay, and I certainly couldn't be offended by the truth,'' she writes. ``What was offensive was that he was obviously trying to use me and my sexual orientation for his own political gain.''

Sitting in the studio audience when Edwards mentioned her sexual orientation, Cheney said she looked at the vice-presidential candidate and mouthed the words"Go F*** Yourself'' a phrase her father had earlier employed against Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy.