Lynne Cheney: Kerry ‘not a good man’

Lynne Cheney came out swinging last night against John Kerry, hammering him for mentioning her lesbian daughter, Mary Cheney, during the final presidential debate.

At a post-debate rally, Cheney said, “The only thing I could conclude is that this is not a good man. This is not a good man. And, of course, I’m speaking as a mom. And a pretty indignant one. This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick.”

Kerry was responding to President Bush’s answer to a question about whether or not homosexuality is a choice.

“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 said.

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of vice presidential nominee John Edwards, shot back at Cheney this morning, saying she must regard her daughter’s sexual orientation as “shameful.”

“She’s overreacted to this and treated it as if it’s shameful to have this discussion,” Edwards told ABC radio. “I think that’s a very sad state of affairs. … I think that it indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter’s sexual preferences. … It makes me really sad that that’s Lynne’s response.”

Vice President Dick Cheney told NBC affiliate WHO: “Sen. Kerry was out of line to bring my daughter into it. I thought it was totally inappropriate.”

At the vice presidential debate last week, John Edwards expressed “respect for the fact that [the Cheneys are] willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her. It’s a wonderful thing.”

Cheney thanked his opponent for the “kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much.”

ABC News reported that a senior Kerry aide acknowledged the comment “was not his best moment,” but calls charges that it was inappropriate “ridiculous … The woman is in her 30s. She’s public about her sexuality. It was brought up in the last debate. So, what the hell?”