Kerry: 'Tawdy trick' slammed

2004-10-14 22:47

Washington - Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry was under fire on Thursday for invoking vice-president Dick Cheney's openly lesbian daughter a day earlier in his final debate with President George W Bush.

Shortly after the third and last face-to-face exchange, Cheney's wife Lynne blasted Kerry at a campaign rally as "not a good man" for mentioning their daughter Mary Cheney when questioned on whether being homosexual was a choice.

"The only thing I could conclude is this is not a good man," she told a Republican rally.

"I am speaking as a mom - and a pretty indignant mom.

"This is not a good man - what a cheap and tawdry political trick."

Kerry aides noted that the vice-president himself had mentioned his adult daughter's homosexuality while on the campaign trail, and said the Republicans were using manufactured outrage to avoid a serious discussion of the issues.

"The reason they're doing this is to distract from the fact that Bush has done so much to hurt middle America," Kerry campaign spokesperson Phil Singer told AFP.

The remarks came when, in the context of discussing whether homosexuals should be allowed to marry, the candidates were asked whether they believed that being gay was a choice.

"We're all God's children, 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," Kerry replied.

Asked why Kerry had mentioned Cheney's daughter, Singer insisted: "It was not any kind of calculated line.

"He was giving a genuine answer to the question, nothing more, nothing less."

But it was not the first time that the Kerry camp had mentioned Mary Cheney, in response to a question about gay marriage: Democratic vice presidential hopeful John Edwards did so in his October 5 debate with Cheney.

"I think the vice-president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much.

"And you can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her," Edwards said.

"It's a wonderful thing."

Offered a chance to challenge the Democrat, Cheney replied: "Let me simply thank the Senator for the kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that, very much."

- AFP