GAYMARY.CBS 10/15/04 8:55 AM-DLR   1:25
Stepping out of line.  This is Dave Ross on the CBS Radio Network.
The comment came when it was Senator Kerry's turn to answer the question on whether being gay is a choice:
TAPE:  "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"
He probably should have just said NO.  But when you have a minute to answer, the temptation is to use it all, and that means you need examples.
And of the many people he might have used to illustrate the point, he chose Mary Cheney, the one that would be the most uncomfortable for the President.
And he seemed to assume that the simple fact that the daughter of a very conservative vice president is openly gay constitutes proof being gay is not a choice.  When - as far as I know - Mary Cheney herself has been silent on the matter.
In any case, Vice President Cheney called Kerry "out of line", his wife, Lynne, called Kerry's comment a "cheap and tawdry political trick", and we're off to the races.
But at least Kerry was trying to say something positive about Mary.  He meant it in a nice way.
Compare that to a remark that was broadcast on August 30th, right after the Republican Convention.  Illinois Senate Candidate Alan Keyes, a Republican, was doing an interview with a satellite radio station that broadcasts gay and lesbian programming.  He described homosexuality as "selfish hedonism" and then, asked if Mary Cheney was a "selfish hedonist", he replied "of course."
For some reason, that hasn't made much national news  Maybe he meant it in a nice way.
Now this.
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