Cheap Shot Artists

What is the deal with this Republican whining that John Edwards "took a cheap shot" at Dick Cheney in the Vice-Presidential Debate by "cruelly bringing up" his gay daughter? This is completely ridiculous, and actually shows how the GOP likes to hide from their socially conservative religious base.

First of all, if you follow politics at all, and you didn't already know that Dick Cheney had a gay daughter, your head is in the sand. Cheney has addressed this fact directly on the stump as recently as late August:

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney has declared that "freedom means freedom for everyone" to enter "into any kind of relationship they want to."

In unusually personal remarks on the issue, delivered at a campaign forum in Davenport, Iowa, the vice president, referred to his daughter, Mary, who is a lesbian, saying that he and his wife "have a gay daughter, so it's an issue our family is very familiar with."

He added, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by the White House, "We have two daughters, and we have enormous pride in both of them."

Of course, the GOP counter-argument would be that debates open up the process to those who don't normally follow politics closely, and many of them might not have known about Mary Cheney, and it was a "cheap shot" to bring it up. Well, if you want to talk about who brought up Cheney's gay daughter in the debate, I'd say it was Gwen Ifill:

IFILL: The next question goes to you, Mr. Vice President. 

I want to read something you said four years ago at this very setting: "Freedom means freedom for everybody." You said it again recently when you were asked about legalizing same-sex unions. And you used your family's experience as a context for your remarks.

Can you describe then your administration's support for a constitutional ban on same-sex unions?

How could Cheney have used his "family's experience as a context" for remarks about gay marriage if there WASN'T a gay member of the family? The issue was already on the table.

Third of all, Cheney's repsonse to this "cheap shot" doesn't sound like that of someone who was just stuck in the ribs, does it?

CHENEY: Well, Gwen, let me simply thank the senator for the kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much.

What does this all mean? Well, it seems to me that Republican backers are trying to hide their skeletons in an ever-expanding closet, because they know that members of their fundamentalist base would literally not vote for someone if they knew the candidate had a gay daughter. That's the disgusting truth of the matter, and if anyone is providing a cheap shot, it's the GOP on the American people by whitewashing their candidates for political gain. The tacit acknowledgement here is that the Republican Party has a base whose bigotry embarrasses them.