MORE ON THIS SILLINESS

My sense is that this Mary Cheney stuff won't last another 36 hours. Why? Look at the statements Dick and Lynne have made. They say they're "angry" and "indignant", but they haven't said why. We're supposed to assume something, but they neglect to say what that something is.

It can't be about bringing Mary into the discussion altogether, since Dick himself was happy enough to do that long before the 2004 debates. And it can't be about anything libelous that Kerry said, because what Kerry said cannot possibly be interpreted that way.

This situation can only expand if Dick and Lynne verbally offer up the context for why they're "angry", instead of just saying it and assuming we understand. In allowing the Cheneys' statements to stand as is, the Associated Press account seems very willfully obtuse. But that won't last.

UPDATE: Kevin Drum asks the very same question.

UPDATE II: Marshall adds:

Lynne Cheney called Kerry's mention of her daughter "cheap and tawdry." Those are words redolent of associations with sexual deviance, not rough campaign tactics. She might have said what he did was 'mean-spirited', 'underhanded', 'devious', 'inappropriate', 'wrong'. She chose 'cheap and tawdry'. Interesting ...

That might lend some insight to the "why" question.

UPDATE: A partial answer, via Americablog:

ABC News just reported that what truly angered the Cheney family about Kerry's comments last night about Mary was that he claimed to know what was in her mind! Excuse me? Kerry said:

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. I think if you talk to anybody, it's not a choice."

So what the Bush campaign is now saying is that Mr. and Mrs. Cheney are upset that Kerry suggested that Mary thinks being gay isn't a choice. So does Mary think being gay IS a choice?

Like I said, lovely family.

See, this is why the issue is going away. The media, in this case ABC, figured out the relevant question to ask in only a matter of hours, and unless the Cheneys want to enter some really bad territory, there's not much more they can do once the press does that.