The memory of the 2004 presidential re-election campaign remains long and vivid for former Vice President Dick Cheney, who recalled that he was unimpressed and even disgusted with challengers John Kerry and running mate John Edwards.

Reflecting on Kerry’s bid in a new oral history project from Southern Methodist University’s Center for Presidential History, the former veep called it a “no-class operation,” especially for targeting Cheney’s lesbian daughter in a debate over same-sex marriage.