"I think that's a low blow," A.J. Rodriguez, 30, said on busy Court St. in downtown Brooklyn."Stay away from family, that's my rule," said the cable technician from Bushwick. "You don't bring that up in a debate."
Fast-food employee Shakeeva Anthony, 20, of East New York, Brooklyn, said that even though she already had made up her mind to vote for Kerry, she cringed when he mentioned the vice president's daughter.
"Who says he should put her business out there like that?" Anthony asked. "If she wants to date women, then let her. Her personal life is her business."
This is from the NY DAILY NEWS! If this is what people are saying in Brooklyn (likely 80% Kerry voters), what are they saying in Missouri? Nothing good, I bet. I agree with those saying this is the Wellstone memorial all over again. This story has LEGS. It has the potential to kill all the 'likeability' gains Kerry made in the debates and lets Dick Cheney play the victim.
Voters that may have been willing to vote Kerry on the issues may also feel uncomfortable with homosexuality and see it as something 'private'. They may also feel ANY mention of family members are off-limits.
They are not ALL raging homophobes.
We need their votes, too.
Anectdotal evidence: My friend "X" is a very liberal voter. She is not registered in any party. She leans heavy for Kerry. She does not watch network news or cable news, and does not follow blogs. She does watch Morning Shows and read Newspapers. Her reaction to Kerry's statement? "They was a strange thing to say".
But, there is a solution.
Kerry should just apologize. To Mary Cheney. Clear, unambiguous. Defuse it now before it consumes all media coverage for the next two weeks.
The more defiant we become, the nastier Kerry looks.
All of you who post diaries that read "Stop talking about this NOW" just back me up. If this issue was an advantage for us (like OBL gaffes) we should talk about it a lot. The fact that many of you want it to go away without a trace tells me all I need to know about its real impact. Kerry shot himself in the foot on this one. He should have talked about Jim McGreevey instead.
Anecdotal evidence: Yesterday, Iowa Markets showed a definite Kerry trend. Today, GONE. Bush on a big upswing.
In a tie race, can we afford ANY gaffes?