The foul mouth of Mary Cheney

AMERICAblog is reporting that Mary Cheney, daughter of Dick, called John Kerry a "son of a bitch" and referred to John Edwards as "total slime" during an interview with Diane Sawyer. She even mouthed something quite vile at Edwards during the 2004 vice presidential debate (actually, something her father had previously said to Patrick Leahy). She was apparently upset that they had referred to her sexual orientation.

As John puts it, though, "the reason Kerry and Edwards mentioned Mary's gayness is because George Bush decided to use gays as a, if not 'the,' political issue of the 2004 elections". Absolutely right. Democrats aren't united on the issue, say, of same-sex marriage, but they don't exploit it for political gain the way Republicans do. Just look at how Republicans use it to mobilize the more bigoted elements of their base. It's same-sex marriage, but it's now also adoption.

All Mary Cheney shows is that profanity knows no bounds, including sexual orientation. But shouldn't she ask her father why his Rove-driven campaign mobilized bigotry in a battle for voter turnout? Shouldn't she ask her father's alleged boss the same question? Shouldn't she ask her beloved Republican Party why it insists on bashing gays and lesbians, why it includes bigots in its ranks, why it now resorts to blatant homophobia whenever its political fortunes are threatened, why it intends to use this as yet another wedge issue going forward into this fall's midterms?

Or would the answers hit a little too close to home?