Are they ashamed?

[Godless Dave]

Originally Posted by ApostateAbe

And I would like to add that an embarassment is not made null just because it is made public. If, before, it remained on the sidelines, then it is brought to the center of a political contest, then the embarassment is amplified.

Bush had already brought sexual orientation to the center of this political contest with the Federal Marriage Amendment. You can't have it both ways. If Mary Cheney's sexual orientation is off-limits, then every other American's sexual orientation should be off-limits too. Bush chose to make sexual orientation an issue.