"Fair Game"
Regardless of what John Kerry has said in defense of his reference to Mary Cheney in the third debate, the bottom line is that Mary Beth Cahill said that raising the issue of Ms. Cheney's sexuality was "fair game." In other words, the reference was a deliberate choice of a target.

No, it is inaccurate to say that Kerry "outed" her, but his and the Edwardses' decision to raise such an irrelevant issue ---as well as breaking one of the few taboos left in electoral politics by singling out an opponent's child for any reason other than unmistakable praise--- was a foolish thing to have done.

Just watch a replay of Kerry's remarks. You can tell by the hesitancy in his delivery that he knew, even as it was coming out of his mouth, that he was making a mistake. And what he has said about it since then is complete bullshit. If he was merely trying to give an example of a gay person whose family is loving and supportive, Kerry could have come up with a generic example or made reference to Dick Gephardt's daughter or Rosie O' Donnell or Ellen DeGeneres or any number of people. But he specifically raised the issue of Mary Cheney for a reason: to introduce the element of division into the ranks of the Presidents' Christian Right supporters. Their bigotry is a problem, indeed, but what is worse is Kerry's cynicism in playing to it. That's the bottom line.