Service or no service, he is USING Mary Cheney just as Kerry did. It's tacky. The reason behind the use is irrelevant.
I'm sorry, but that's one of the nuttiest things I've heard around here in a long, long time. What Safire is doing is analyzing a political move by Kerry and exposing it for what it is. That is not use, abuse, exploitation, or anything like it.
He's not using MC, you are mistaken. He is pointing out Kerry's dirty trick.
Any refence to Cheney is by way of telling the story...not trying to seperate an opponent from his his base by using his daughter against him.