Ms. Cheney (the daughter) works for the campaign. To consider her a "private person" in this regard and not a "political person" is to apply the "soft bigotry of low expectations" (I love that phrase, it's such a fancy way of saying you think some one is getting dissed) to Ms. Cheney, perhaps because she is a gay woman?

When right winger Alan Keyes said that Mary Cheney practiced selfish hedonism, Lynne Cheney was silent, letting her other daughter speak instead.

When John Kerry makes a reference to Mary Cheney being just like any other American, THEN Lynne gets upset.

My heart goes out to Mary. Now I understand the relationship between her and her mother. Why she hasn't become a buzz-cut wearing, tattoo-covered, harley riding dyke is beyond me.

Shame on Lynne Cheney for speaking out against Kerry and not Alan Keyes, especially considering each of their statements, shame shame for using your own child as a political tool that way. But with Republicans also taking their toddlers to the front lines of rallies so they can be political tools as well, it makes me wonder why I'm fighting so hard to be a part of all this 'family value' crapola.

I think the Cheneys have no room to be indignant here. Clearly, Cheney was uncomfortable with the first mention in the VP debate with Edwards, and this second mention by Kerry (using the heavier term "lesbian") probably was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Two problems, though:
First, Cheney thanked Edwards for his comments about Mary. Yes, I do recognize that Edwards's mention was as much strategic as it was empathetic and perhaps his mention was made more palatable by his soft touch with words. Kerry followed almost the same playbook with the exact same words -- perhaps less positive affect and Southern charm. Cheney's thankful, emotional response to the first mention mutes all his anger about the second one.

Second, Cheney himself has avoided talking about the President's position on gay marriage and made it very clear it is the President's and not his.

Third, the more they talk about Kerry being a "bad man" for daring to say that their daughter is a lesbian, the more people remember that she is INDEED a lesbian, particularly social conservatives who might be less motivated to turn out and vote on religious values. It's a no-win situation politically and they'd be best advised to move on, no matter how insulted they feel.

You'd think they'd save some of that indignation for the President's anti-gay agenda.

That is all.

this thing really bothers me becuase the mom is sounding like she is ashamed of her daughter.

she is a lesbian, big deal. kerry and edwards brought it up. big deal.

hey...bigger issue......thousands of folks are being killed in iraq for no obvious reason.

jack e. jett

Exactly, Jack E. I suspect Rove and the Cheneys are just playing move the cheese. If people focus on their silly claim that saying an acknowledged lesbian working on the Bush/Cheney campaign is gay is 'bad,' they will not be focusing on Bush's third failure in the debates or other news damning to the powers that be.

The great irony is that after all the relentless "character" attacks against Heinz-Kerry, Lynne Cheney comes off as a psycho bitch with the "This is a bad man. No, this is a BAD man..." bit.

So big deal: the daughter of the Right Wing de facto President of the 'Christian Family Values Party' is a Lesbian.

Did I mention she's a lesbian?

Gay?

A lesbian who eats pussy?

While gay?

hahahahahahahaha.

THE GOOD NEWS:

According to the Christoids, she'll be able to meet her lying, criminal pop in Hell.

Saw this and wanted to chime in from the comment I made on my blog, but trackback doesn't appear to be working. Here's a link.

this just in.

mary cheney is still gay.

and her parents thought it was just a phase. so did mine, 24 years ago, i think they have given up on that.

jack

And Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead

It seems to me that this was a campaign trick concocted by Karl Rove.

Rove probably figured Cheney's daughter would be mentioned in the vice presidential debate, and he instructed Cheney to respond magnanimously.

Rove calculated that Kerry, seeing Cheney's response, would consider Mary an open topic for discussion.

Rove's brilliant strategy was to then instruct the Cheney's to express outrage at the mention of their daughter's sexual orientation by Kerry.

The strategy appears to have worked. Recent polls show Bush pulling ahead. Kerry mentioning a known fact will probably wind up costing him the election.

Karl Rove is brilliant.

Open season on Rove strategy! Polls my ass! Republican base polls that did not get an accurate segment of anything. Were did you see this poll, FOX News?

Rove is brilliantly evil! To say good things about Karl Rove tells me what kind of redneck creep world a person lives in. I suppose J.Edgar Hoover was a cool dude, Ann Coulter is a nice girl, & Civil Rights for minorites & women is a bad idea that should be done in!

A negative man(Mr.Rove) allowed in the realms of my tax dollars, but a welfare check, legal abortion, or embryonic stem cell research not okay?

I hope that the dirty trick mentioning Mary Cheney in the debate, wakes you 'Kool Aid' zombies up to your own negative campaign strategies that are backfiring on you as we speak!

Please, L.Goodman, let your post be some sarcasm to bait me, 'cause you sound sick.

Ann Coulter is a nice girl!!! Come on Bob!!!

I think their (the Cheneys) argument is that when Edwards did it, he was speaking directly to Cheney, that made it fair game. When Kerry did it, Cheney was not on stage and not part of the debate. It's sort of like being in a 'yo momma' fight and bringing in some other guys mom, that had nothing to do with it! Not fair!!!

I know it's not fair. I don't care that it's not fair. It's not fair that they keep saying that Kerry voted for the war! It's not fair to say he voted against supporting the troops.

Cheney slams on Kerry when he's not in the room all the time on worse issues than Mary Cheney is a lesbian! As much of an issue keeping gays from marriage the Republicans use to polarize voters, Kerry could have said, "You guys have a lesbian daughter. Do you want to take away her rights? Then shut up about a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, you hypocrites!"

Fair game, man!

yeah...but cheney doesn't slam on Kerry's daughter...and I did like that dress she was wearing...wouldn't want one of my daughters in it, but hey, I'm not running for president. whatthe hell do I know?

Um, Andy, Kerry didn't slam on Cheney's daughter either.

Did I say slam anywhere in my comment??? I didn't think so

my mistake...yes I did say slam..guess it was a bad choice of words...I'll try to be more sensitive next time

not sensitive so much as accurate.

Andy, this is the current Democratic strategy, for the most part: Let opponent insert own foot in mouth!

You are a bigger man to catch & correct your mistakes than GOP party monsters.

guess it's a good thing I wear tasty...or is that tasteful shoes???

The Karl Rove machine is claiming that what Kerry did was a 'slam' so you weren't off about what you said. At the same time, Kerry did not slam Mary Cheney.

In my opinion though, Kerry pulled a dirty move by going there & you could 'theorize' that he did it to get the Bush/Cheney camp to make fools of themselves in the face of their anti-gay stance. The person suggesting that ingenious Rovisms are at work should think about how obvious his work is & how it is backfiring.

Like I was saying about the cocaine; the addict is not at fault when it is considered a sickness. Ask yourself, are those gang members bringing all that dope into this country?