Kerry Spot    [ jim geraghty reporting ]
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A reporter from the Des Moines Register tells Kerry of Lynne Cheney’s reaction, of Dick Cheney’s reaction, and Elizabeth Edwards’ charge that Lynne Cheney is ashamed of her daughter. The reporter asks Senator Kerry, “Do you regret what you said about Mary Cheney during the debate?”

Kerry: No, I don’t. I said it in a very respectful way about their love for their daughter. I’m surprised at the reaction. I was saying it in a way that embraced their love of their daughter as an example of parents and real situations in America that recognize people for who they are. They love their daughter.

I love my daughters. We’re like any family. And all I was trying to do was point out that it - it - let their daughter speak. Was it a choice? Or was she born the way she was? That was the question. I was being respectful. Purely respectful.

Reporter: Even though the question wasn’t about her specifically?

Kerry: I was trying to point out that they have embraced their daughter and that they don’t raise questions and that Dick Cheney himself is against a constitutional amendment — a reflection of love and I think recognition of who their daughter is. So I was simply trying to, in a very respectful way, uh, honor who she is as an example, as a prominent example, of choices that families face across our country. And it was completely meant in a constructive way in terms of, their love and their affection for their daughter. No other way.

Reporter: Okay, I have one quick follow-up. Right afterwards, Mary Beth Cahill was on television.

Kerry: I didn’t see it. I haven’t seen television in ages. (laughs)

Reporter: She was asked about this and said that Mary Cheney is ‘fair game.’ I wonder if you agree with that, if Mary Cheney is fair-

Kerry: No, I don’t like that characterization. I did not know she said that.

Reporter: Yeah, it was in an interview with Chris Wallace.

Kerry: Well, I don’t… I would ask her not to characterize it as such. I don’t think- I think what she meant is that I was trying to express it in a sort of legitimate way. I don’t consider it that way. That’s not the way I looked at it.

Reporter: Do you consider any candidate’s family fair game? In any situation?

Kerry: No. Personally, no.

Oddly, this is only available via audio on the Des Moines Register web site.

Thought one: And people say Bush’s answers are incoherent?

Thought two: Check the transcript. By the sixth word of his answer, Kerry is beginning to refer to Mary Cheney. And how in the world can Kerry say now, “let their daughter speak,” when Kerry’s answer was stating, directly, “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 there is no point in asking Mary Cheney, because the all-knowing, all-seeing John Kerry has determined she would tell you she is “being who she was born as.”

Thought three: Is an attack like this a sign of a confident campaign?

Thought four: Would it kill John Kerry or any other Democrat to remember that Dick Cheney has two daughters? We keep hearing from the Dems, "They love their daughter, they love their daughter" — come on, people, it should be plural.

[Posted 10/15 10:25 AM]