One thing some bloggers are pointing out is that most of the debate watchers were probably not aware that Mary Cheney was openly a lesbian. After all, it's a piece of political trivia, or was until the debates. Thus, they may be going on the assumption that Edwards and Kerry decided to out her in the debates, which would have been a cheap trick indeed.
As for people who already knew that Mary Cheney was a lesbian, they can recognize what was supposed to be a clever bidirectional blow - reminding Bush's religious supporters that there is an open homosexual on Team Bush, and reminding Democrats of Cheney's supposed hypocrisy in supporting Bush's anti-gay marriage stances when his own daughter is a lesbian.
Cokie Roberts came up with an excellent comparison today. She said in one of her father's campaigns for Congress in Louisiana, his opponent, Earl Long, would repeat in every town, "Now some people say that Hale Boggs is a Communist.", thus first airing that notion, "But Hale Boggs is not a Communist. He's a good Catholic boy." Bogg's religion was not hidden and he certainly wasn't ashamed of it. But Long mentioned it repeatedly because he thought it would hurt him.
Just so, people know that Mary Cheney was singled out deliberately for mention, not once but twice, into order to hurt Bush. And they regard this use of a politician's daughter as a low blow. |
