So Kerry insults Cheney's daughter and draws someone into the debate politically.
Kerry refuses to apologize.
Edwards' wife further insults the Cheneys.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/po...rtner=homepage
Cheneys Criticize Kerry's Remarks on Daughter
By DAVID STOUT
Published: October 14, 2004
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 - Senator John Kerry's remarks Wednesday night about the sexual orientation of Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter touched off a series of furious exchanges between the presidential campaigns today, with Mr. Cheney describing himself as ``a pretty angry father'' and questioning Mr. Kerry's character.
As both sides claimed victory after the third and final debate between President Bush and Mr. Kerry, attention was focused today on a relatively brief back-and-forth between Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry that ended in an allusion to Mr. Cheney's daughter Mary, who is openly gay and is Mr. Cheney's campaign manager.
When the debate moderator, Bob Schieffer of CBS, asked the president whether he thought homosexuality was a matter of choice, Mr. Bush replied: ``You know, Bob, I don't know. I just don't know.'' Mr. Bush, who has said he believes in the sanctity of marriage between man and woman, went on to say that Americans should treat each other ``with tolerance and respect and dignity.''
For his part, Mr. Kerry said he too sees marriage as a union between man and woman. The senator, who unlike Mr. Bush does not support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, went on to say, ``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.''
The reaction was quick and heated, and it seemed unlikely to dissipate soon. Perhaps the most emotional reaction was from Mary Cheney's mother. ``I did have a chance to assess John Kerry once more,'' Lynne Cheney said at a post-debate rally in Coraopolis, Pa. ``And the only thing I could conclude is this is not a good man. This is not a good man. And of course, I am speaking as a mom and a pretty indignant mom. This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick.''
Vice President Cheney was at the same rally and did not comment about his daughter, for whom he and his wife have often expressed love and respect. But he assailed Mr. Kerry today in a rally at Fort Myers, Fla.
``You saw a man who will say and do anything in order to get elected,'' Mr. Cheney said. ``And I am not speaking just as a father here, though I am a pretty angry father, but as a citizen.'' The vice president went on to describe the Massachusetts senator as too vacillating to be commander in chief and unwilling to support American troops at war.
Mr. Kerry issued a statement today in Las Vegas in which he showed no inclination to apologize. ``I love my daughters,'' he said. ``They love their daughter. I was trying to say something positive about the way strong families deal with this issue.''
President Bush, also campaigning in Las Vegas, did not mention Mr. Kerry's remarks about Ms. Cheney. Instead, he described his own record as one of ``lowering taxes, reforming education, providing prescription drugs to seniors, improving our homeland protections and waging aggressive war against the terrorists.''
In contrast, Mr. Bush went on, ``the senator's record is 20 years of out-of-the-mainstream votes, without many significant reforms or results.''
The mention of the sexual orientation of Ms. Cheney was the second on prime-time television in little more than a week. Mr. Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards, referred to it in what appeared to be a friendly exchange in his debate with Mr. Cheney on Oct. 5. Mr. Cheney did not react strongly then, and thanked Mr. Edwards ``for his kind words.''
At the rally Wednesday night, Mr. Cheney, speaking at the same rally, did not address Mr. Kerry's remarks, although he did say jokingly, ``I'm glad Lynne is on my side.'' Mr. Cheney went on to say he thought President Bush had done ``a whale of a job.''
The Bush-Cheney campaign echoed that assessment today, with Marc Racicot, the former Montana governor and campaign chairman, declaring that Mr. Bush had won ``because he spoke with clarity, conviction and compassion about the most important issues facing our country.''
But the Kerry-Edwards campaign offered an opposite view, putting out a series of statements by analysts who thought Mr. Kerry had done better. One was from the conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, not a political soul mate, who told MSNBC that Mr. Kerry had been ``very much on top of his game.''
But the routine analyses of the debates were obscured today by the reaction to the references to Ms. Cheney's sexuality. Senator Edward's wife, Elizabeth, said in an ABC radio interview that Mrs. Cheney had overreacted. ``I think that it indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences,'' Mrs. Edwards said. ``It makes me really sad that that's Lynne's response.''
Matthew Dowd, spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said today in a CNN interview that Mr. Kerry's remarks were ``outrageous'' and offered a telling insight between the candidates.
Not so, a senior Democratic adviser shot back on CNN. The adviser, Howard Wolfson, said Republicans were simply trying to stir a tempest because there was nothing else to say about the debate in Tempe, Ariz., ``other than that their candidate lost.''
When Ms. Cheney's sexual orientation came up in the debate between the vice president and Senator Edwards, it seemed to be in a friendly context. Mr. Cheney reiterated his support for the idea that marriage should be regulated by the states, in contrast to President Bush's call for a federal constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
``People ought to be free to choose any arrangement they want,'' Mr. Cheney said. `It's really no one else's business.''
After Mr. Edwards praised Mr. Cheney for having expressed pride in his daughter, the vice president said he appreciated ``the kind words.''
``You're welcome,'' Mr. Edwards said.
-Rudey
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