Election year 2004 will doubtless go down in history as the year the Democrats outed themselves in public. Their long pretense at being the party of tolerance, caring and diversity has rung hollow for years, and their behavior this year has already ended the masquerade. There are no depths to which the Democrats will not sink in their feverish quest to regain power.

In January 2004, I theorised that the reason Dick Gephardt lost his bid for the Democratic nomination was due to the outspoken gay activism of his daughter Chrissy (See Dick Gephardt's Swan Song). I speculated that the prospect of a gay activist living in the White House might have been the deciding factor that persuaded some Iowa Democrats (not the most Liberal state) to cast their votes for Kerry or Edwards instead. A poll of Iowans conducted in September 2003 showed a 65% opposition to gay "marriage," some of which surely must have been reflected in the votes.

The simple fact is that 60% of Americans overall do not want to allow gay marriages. Only 29% support it, no matter how many Liberals legislate it into being... as the Massachusetts Supreme Court did last year over the objections of the majority. The so-called "swing states" where this election will be decided show strong opposition to the subject. 52% of Michigan voters even support a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages. 62% of Missourans and the same percentage of New Mexicans favor the ban. 56% of likely voters in Ohio, one of the most hotly contested states, supported a state ban on gay marriage.

Most of these "undecided" voters are the sort that don't pay any attention to politics at all until the last few weeks. It would be a fair bet that most of them had no idea that one of Dick Cheney's daughters is gay. John Kerry and John Edwards cold-bloodedly planned to use the fact that Dick Cheney's daughter Mary is gay to drive undecided voters out of the Bush camp into their own. It might also have the effect of moving Cheney and the Republican base apart, causing some of them to withhold their votes. During the vice presidential debate, Edwards was asked about the proposed Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. His answer began: "Now, as to this question, let me say first that I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much. And you can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her. It's a wonderful thing. And there are millions of parents like that who love their children, who want their children to be happy."

Now, Edwards' shamelessly throwing Ms. Cheney into the spotlight might have simply been interpreted as an attempt to rattle his opponent during a debate. As heartless and underhanded as that would have been, it was only half the story. During the third presidential debate, John Kerry did the same thing while debating President Bush! In response to the question, "Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?" Senator Kerry began his response: "We're all God's children, Bob. 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."

What earthly reason did Kerry have for dragging Cheney's daughter into the debate? Is she the only gay person he knows by name? He couldn't even give an actual quote from Ms. Cheney; he had to invent a response he supposed she might have given if asked the question. How does he know what she would have felt or said?

Using someone's children to attack him or her is a gutter tactic at best. The Cheneys are understandably upset at the repeated use of their daughter as a tool. Lynne Cheney said: "I am speaking as a mom, and a pretty indignant mom. This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick." Kerry's attempt to backtrack, saying that he "was trying to say something positive about the way strong families deal with the issue," sounds hollow... especially in light of the fact that both John Edwards and Campaign Manager Mary Beth Cahill characterised Mary Cheney's sexual orientation as "fair game." Elizabeth Edwards inexplicably called Lynne Cheney's indignation at the way her daughter's personal life is being used as a political football indicative of "a certain amount of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences."

Kerry's purpose was to drive a wedge between the Bush-Cheney team and any socially conservative voters -- whatever their party -- in the swing states. He and Edwards planned in advance to insert Mary Cheney's sex life into their debates when the question of gay marriage inevitably came up. Whether their supporters in the so-called "mainstream" media are aiding them consciously (by overplaying the story) is immaterial, so long as everyone is reminded just weeks before the election that Dick Cheney has (gasp!) a gay daughter. It's election year dirty pool at its lowest. And it's not going to get any better before the election is over.

Of course, that probably won't be for months after election night, if I read the desperation of the Democrats correctly. If they're willing to highlight someone's sexual orientation for political gain, what won't they do? In Tennessee, Representative Craig Fitzhugh (who shares his office with the Kerry-Edwards campaign) is distributing anti-Bush flyers featuring Bush's head on the body of someone winning a Special Olympics race. The caption reads, "Voting for Bush Is Like Running In The Special Olympics: Even If You Win, You're Still Retarded." The Democrats, unmasked at last, are even willing to insult the disabled and disadvantaged for the sake of votes.

That kind of says it all, doesn't it?