Ana Marie Cox of "Time" magazine asserted that the pregnancy of Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, shames the White House and pondered whether it was a "...genetic experiment to extend the lineage," on Tuesday’s "Imus in the Morning." Cox, appearing in the 6:00 hour, alluded to Ms. Cheney’s sexual orientation on several occasions and emphasized that she is the vice president’s "gay daughter."

Cox claimed that the Bush administration is "falling apart" because the news of Mary Cheney’s pregnancy is the best they’d received recently:

"This administration’s really falling apart though, I do agree. I think, you know, you know times are bad when the best news the White House has had recently is, you know, Dick Cheney’s gay daughter is pregnant. Like, he’s going to be a granddad, that’s pretty much it."

Cox seems to imply that Mary Cheney’s pregnancy is bad news for the Bush Administration, but its probably safe to assume the president and vice president would disagree. Later, Cox contended that this pregnancy lowers the bar on gay rights for GOP presidential candidates because all they have to say is "well, at least my gay daughter’s not pregnant."

Mary Cheney’s sexual orientation has been widely known for years, yet, Vice President Cheney allowed her in 2004 to run his campaign office. If the Vice President and by extension the Bush campaign, were not too embarrassed for her to hold a position of such responsibility during their reelection campaign, why does Cox assert that her pregnancy shames them now? A more relevant point would have been Ms. Cheney’s activism in campaigning for Virginia not to adopt a ban on gay marriage as an example that may have been embarrassing to the White House.

A transcript of the cited exchanges follows:

6:35

Don Imus: I think a metaphor for this idiotic administration is, if you’re the first lady you can’t show up at a White House reception in the same gown that three other women are wearing, I mean somebody’s got to–somebody has to know what is going on, don’t they?"

Ana Marie Cox: "Right. You know, well this administration has always had trouble with advance intelligence, you know, they don’t seem to, like, you know, they can’t find out things in advance very well. And I think that’s just an example–"

Don Imus: "Well how does that happen?"

Ana Marie Cox: "They said, they told Laura she was going to be greeted as a liberator, you know, instead she had to change her dress. This administration’s really falling apart though, I do agree. I think, you know, you know times are bad when the best news the White House has had recently is, you know, Dick Cheney’s gay daughter is pregnant. Like, he’s going to be a granddad, that’s pretty much it."

Don Imus: "I wonder who the father is?"

Ana Marie Cox: "Do you know who the father is?"

Don Imus: "No I don’t. It’s not David Gregory; it’s not Evan Thomas. And it’s not Senator Rick Santorum."

Ana Marie Cox: "You’re individually asking every guest?"

Don Imus: "Yes. Unless they’re lying to me."

Ana Marie Cox: "I’m not the father either. I think that the only way that it could get worse for this White House is if John Kerry’s the father. <laughter> or Hillary."

6:38

Don Imus: "So now we want to know who that [the father] is."

Ana Marie Cox:" I think, you know, as far as investigative journalism goes, that’s not at the top of my list, but I think you should continue to ask every guest."

Don Imus: "Why wouldn’t you want to know?"

Ana Marie Cox: "Well, I mean, I guess I do kind of want to know just because I wonder how the father feels about this. I was thinking about that. Like, I mean, are they proud that they like, you know, like contributed to the utter shame of this White House. Or are they, is it some good Republican out there that is actually thinking they’re going to, you know, it’s some kind of genetic experiment to extend the lineage? Umm, I’d be curious, sure."

6:44

Don Imus: "Anything else going on I should know about or no?"

Ana Marie Cox: "I don’t think so, oh, I know, apparently we’re having another election soon. I already kind of have ‘08 fatigue at this point. But, you know, I was actually thinking the other thing that Mary Cheney, her being pregnant now, I was thinking that really lowers the bar for every other, you know, Republican ‘08 candidate as far as gay rights goes."

Don Imus: "Oh it does?"

Ana Marie Cox: "Yeah, no matter what happens, they can be like ‘well at least my gay daughter’s not pregnant.’ I mean that seems like, you know, Mitt Romney’s going to get off easy at this point."