Originally posted at 10:57 PM on Oct 13, 2004

Much ado is being made about a comment delivered by Senator Kerry in the third Presidential Debate. The question delivered was

SCHIEFFER: Both of you are opposed to gay marriage. But to understand how you have come to that conclusion, I want to ask you a more basic question. Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?

To which Kerry replied

KERRY: 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. I think if you talk to anybody, it's not choice....

Like most people watching the debates, Kerry's remarks made me feel very uncomfortable. I'm sure part of it was the fact that he was bringing up an opponent's daughter as political ammo in a Presidential debate; but more than that... it was the way Kerry really worked to try to make that line fit in his answer. It sort of stuck out in an odd way that didn't at all sit will with me. Kerry effectively "outed" Dick Cheney's Daughter when he really didn't have to. He tried to make that line fit, and it just didn't work. He brought up something entirely irrelevant which I guess he thought would somehow help him... so Kerry is trying to use Mary Cheney's sexuality against her father and the President. That just goes beyond the pale.

When Kerry's Campaign Advisor (I think it was Kerry Campaign Manager Mary Beth Cahill, but I am still not 100% sure) was asked about this comment, she replied that Cheney's daughter is certainly "fair game". (I'm looking for the exact quote). I'll update this post when I find out more.

I don't think this comment is going to sit well with the American people. I think Kerry owes the Cheney family an apology.

Update: It took me an hour of searching, but I finally have confirmed that it was Mary Beth Cahill who referred to Mary Cheney as "fair game". I don't partucularly like Newsmax as a source, but they will do in a pinch:

As the controversy heated up over Kerry's lesbian reference, his campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said that Mary Cheney's sexuality was "fair game."

"There are a lot of questions here about gay marriage and she is someone who's a major figure in the campaign. I think it's fair game," Cahill told Fox.
Read the full story here

If I remember correctly, the Fox News person asked her again, and she again confirmed, "fair game" but I'd need the full transcript to be sure. The blurb from Newsmax leaves me unsatisfied; but Newsmax seems to have that affect on me.

Originally posted at 10:57 PM on Oct 13, 2004

Update: Kerry's gay ploy backfires NY Daily News

Why Cheney's daughter? Kerry knows lots of famous people who believe - as he says Mary Cheney believes - that they were born gay. He could have cited Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank or New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey. Both are public men who could offer personal testimony about the inborn nature of homosexuality.

But that wasn't the point Kerry wanted to make. He was crying Mary to send a message to presumably homophobic Christian voters: Just in case you hadn't heard, the vice president harbors a practicing lesbian in the bosom of his family.

Despite Kerry's angel-faced sanctimony, this was a piece of premeditated gay-baiting (John Edwards used the same gambit in his debate with Cheney) whose transparent purpose was to keep some of the GOP's evangelical voters from turning out on Nov. 2.