Sunday, Oct. 17, 2004 8:39 a.m. EDT
Mary Cheney's Sister Demands Kerry Apology
In a face-to-face encounter with John Kerry's daughter Alexandra, gutsy Liz Cheney demanded an apology on Saturday for Kerry's decision to publicly identify her sister Mary as "a lesbian" to a presidential debate audience of millions.
Sitting right next to Alexandra while the two guested on ABC's "Good Morning America," the married mother of four said a Kerry apology "would be appropriate."
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But Alexandra didn't stray from the Kerry campaign's edict that Mary Cheney's sexuality is "fair game," telling the vice president's wife, "when you choose to be part of a campaign, you choose to make yourself public."
The day before, top White House aide Mary Matalin also suggested that it was time for Kerry to apologize - but so far the top Democrat refuses to acknowledge that he was wrong.
The reaction to Kerry's "lesbian" outburst - and the way his campaign has mishandled it - has been overwhelmingly negative, with polls showing that, by a margin of 2 to 1, Americans think he was wrong to "out" Cheney in Wednesday night's debate.
Some pundits thought that the gay-baiting ploy could be politically fatal, with WABC Radio's Monica Crowley flatly predicting on Saturday that it could "cost Kerry the election."
Even the Christian right - who team Kerry thought would be turned off to learn that a member of President Bush's political family is gay - has rallied to Mary Cheney's defense.
Noted columnist Zef Chafets in Sunday's New York Daily News: "Well-known political preachers like Jerry Falwell and James Dobson have gone out of their way to defend her right to privacy. Conservative radio talk shows and Web sites have been flooded with denunciations of Kerry and support for Mary."
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