Posted on 10/15/2004 5:26:31 AM PDT by schaketo
WASHINGTON - A thoughtful reference to an opponent's child or a callous comment to score political points?
Those were the competing reactions yesterday to Sen. John Kerry's mention of Vice President Cheney's openly gay daughter, Mary, during the final presidential debate - a mention that provoked an angry response from her parents.
Asked by moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS whether he thought homosexuality was a choice, Kerry replied: "We're all God's children, Bob, and I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as."
In a postdebate television interview, the vice president called it "inappropriate" for Kerry to mention Mary Cheney, who works on her father's campaign but keeps a low profile. The vice president described himself yesterday, during a Florida campaign rally, as a "pretty angry father."
His wife, Lynne, had stronger words at a rally Wednesday night in Western Pennsylvania.
"I am speaking as a mom and a pretty indignant mom," she said. Referring to Kerry and his comments about her 35-year-old daughter, she said: "This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick."
Stephen Hess, a political analyst at the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, and author of The Little Book of Campaign Etiquette, said he was "absolutely startled" by Kerry's mention of Mary Cheney.
Hess said Kerry crossed the line of political decorum - even though Mary Cheney is open about her sexual preference and her parents have talked publicly about her in the past.
"To make it about an opponent's daughter struck me as such poor taste," Hess said.
In a written statement yesterday, Kerry said he was trying to pay the Cheneys a compliment.
"I love my daughters. They love their daughter," Kerry said. "I was trying to say something positive about the way strong families deal with the issue."
Nicolle Devenish, a Bush campaign spokeswoman, responded: "This was a gratuitous attack. He tried to apologize without apologizing. And it's an acknowledgment that their three-pronged attack on Mary Cheney has backfired on them."
Democrats came to Kerry's defense.
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards, said in an ABC radio interview that Lynne Cheney had "overreacted."
"I think that it indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences," Elizabeth Edwards said. "It makes me really sad that that's Lynne's response."
Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D., Mo.), the former presidential candidate whose daughter Chrissy is lesbian, said scrutiny of a candidate's family was legitimate.
"When you're in politics today, everything is out there; you're in the goldfish bowl every day," Gephardt said when asked about the issue during a conference call about Bush's record on job creation. "John was just trying to pass a compliment to them. I'm perplexed why they're having such a reaction to it."
John Edwards had brought up Mary Cheney at the vice presidential debate Oct. 6.
"I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much," he said after Cheney answered a question about same-sex marriage without specifically mentioning his daughter. "And you can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her. It's a wonderful thing."
During that very heated 90-minute debate, Cheney took time out to thank Edwards "for the kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much."
A senior Kerry adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity because the campaign did not want to fan publicity on the topic, said that when Schieffer asked about homosexuality, Kerry immediately recalled Edwards' exchange with Cheney.
"It was not a prepared riff," the adviser said.
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The remark Sen. Kerry made about the Cheney’s daughter being a lesbian is NOT playing well in Philadelphia! Water cooler talk is BAD. I believe Sen. Kerry should engage in immediate damage control and apologize loudly and often. This could be the turning point in the election. Whoever advised Sen. Kerry to use that line should be fired with a lot of fanfare. This is a DefCon 5 situation.
this is just a smoke screen - the reall caustic comments were the commetns amde by edwards about chris reeve before his body was even cold - taking political advantage over the death of a beloved icon.
and let us not forget kerry's comments denigrating the italian army, and his snubs to the polish. talk about undermining our position among our allies!
Glad it was Kerry. If it had been Bush, CBS would be doing a prime-time special about it.
Chirac reacts to Kerry's statement about his daughter
Yesterday, President Kerry told the world, via the White House Press Corps, what he thinks Chirac's daughter would say about her mental problems.[/sarcasm]
cmale your righting lack a troll this mourning.
And if we do it too often people begin to figure we have no integrity.
If the Italians and Poles would wear North Vietnamese uniforms, Kerry would kiss their feet.
It was NOT a slip of his slithery tongue, it was a carefully-crafted remark.
One might think it was a dumb thing to say but I believe it was a calculated dig. These people have no shame whatsoever. They are right in tune with Bubba and Hitlery, along the sociopathic lines.
And isn't it amazing how many moments exactly like this the Democrats are having during and after the debates? One would almost be tempted to think it was a deliberate strategy to put down an opponent's family for political advantage, wouldn't one? Or perhaps that's too much of a stretch for you to imagine.
he's whining that the french and gremans stant by their financial ties with saddam better than with us (loss of cooperation with our allies) then he insults the ones we have. whatta guy!
For me, that might take a very long while.
These people are mindreaders. Is it not possible, Elizabeth, that Lynne Cheney was simply protecting her daughter's right to privacy? What evidence do you have to conclude shame?
Well I'm perplexed as to how Dickie Gephardt or any of the other people defending this conduct feel it was OK to do it.
Oh, wait. They're Democrats. They have no sense of decency.
"When you're in politics today, everything is out there; you're in the goldfish bowl every day," Gephardt said when asked about the issue during a conference call about Bush's record on job creation. "John was just trying to pass a compliment to them. I'm perplexed why they're having such a reaction to it."
WHAT? Mr. Gephardt, when has anybody made the sexual preference of your daughter "fair game". Up until yesterday I didn't even know you had a gay daughter! And I dare say, sir, that if a Republican made such crass public statements about Chrissy, you would be fit to be tied. "Perplexed" my ass.
"It was not a prepared riff," the adviser said.
Oh BULLSH*T! Kerry's own campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said that Cheney's daughter was "fair game"--couple that with Edwards' remarks during the VP debate and you see that this was an organized plan of attack. Shameless!
Maybe not. Unless they got the questions in advance, and I don't think they did. And if there was any aforethought, I doubt he'd have been stupid enough to say it.
This was a FRONT PAGE STORY in today's Inquirer. Not good for the Kerry "campaign." Not what they need in Philly at all.
Good grief. I heard Mike Meehan on Dom Giordano's show last night dancing all around this. Giordano asked him three times to explain why Kerry brought up Mary Cheney, who he does not know, rather than Barney Frank or even Jim McGreevey. Meehan ducked the question and sounded pretty sheepish. They know they stepped in it big-time with this one. Kerry is going to lose two or three news cycles over this. It's all people are talking aout around the water coolers today.
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