The Maximum Effective Range of an Excuse

icon_military.jpgBetween taking steps to close Guantanamo Bay, ARRA, the auto bailouts, drawing down the war in Iraq and refocusing our energies towards Afghanistan, pirates, tackling healthcare reform, filling a Supreme Court vacancy, a swine flu pandemic, unrest in Iran, and North Korea straight up acting a fool, the Obama Administration has had a lot on its plate since it took power less than five months ago.

But a major, unaddressed issue continues to hound the Administration and its allies in Congress.

James Pietrangelo II, the former Army infantryman and lawyer whose case the high court declined to review, reserved most of his ire for President Obama instead of the court. “He’s a coward, a bigot and a pathological liar,” Pietrangelo said in an interview with TIME shortly after the high court declined to hear his appeal. “This is a guy who spent more time picking out his dog, Bo, and playing with him on the White House lawn than he has working for equality for gay people,” he added. “If there were millions of black people as second-class citizens, or millions of Jews or Irish, he would have acted immediately” upon taking office to begin working to lift “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Pietrangelo fought in Iraq in 1991 as an infantryman, and returned as a JAG officer for the second Iraq War, before being booted out in 2004 for declaring he was gay as he was readying for a third combat tour. He was representing himself before the high court.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a policy put into effect by Democrats bullied by culture warriors a decade and a half ago, has the potential to be ended by new generation of blue-bloods that control both the White House and Congress. So why hasn’t the policy been ended? From ThinkProgress:

The Obama administration has repeatedly resisted calls to suspend DADT by executive order. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs last month said that President Obama is looking for a “durable legislative solution,” and Obama himself has written that repeal of the policy “needs Congressional action.”

Many LGBT bloggers immediately criticized Reid’s comments, saying that Obama and Congress were “playing hot potato over DADT.”

So the Administration doesn’t want to touch it. Congress doesn’t want to touch it. In the meantime, gay and lesbian Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are left by the wayside. Even worse, they flat out are not allowed to contribute to the processes that help keep our warfighters safe abroad and our civilians safe at home. Honestly, what is the most we have to lose by committing to ending the policy? Are we afraid of the right-wing culture warriors that will retread their same unfounded talking points about unit cohesion and family values that they’ve had since the 90s? Do we honestly hope to change their minds on the issue? The vast majority of Americans support ending the policy, including most conservatives. Meanwhile, the President continues to maintain a strong approval rating and Democrats are poised to retain control of the House and Senate in the coming election cycle. Granted, the President and Congress have a lot on the plate right now, but it hasn’t stopped them from putting forth and encouraging other massive national initiatives that have significantly less public support.

I don’t mean to go on a tangent, but a similar argument about unit cohesion was made in the days of Jim Crow America. But on July 26, 1948, another Democratic president had the audacity (dare I say, cojones) to issue an executive order which effectively ended segregation in the armed forces. Upon issuing Executive Order 9981, President Truman declared:

“It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.”

The changes that came about from that order by no means happened overnight. In fact, segregated units still operated through the end of the Korean War. But it certainly got the ball rolling enough that men like Colin Powell, Benjamin Davis, and Kip Ward could commission as officers, meritoriously lead mostly white Soldiers in combat, and eventually become some of the highest ranking military officers in the land. And granted, ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell won’t suddenly make the military a gay-friendly institution, but it’s a step forward. The more we lose strong Soldiers like Lt. Dan Choi or Cpt. James Pietrangelo, the more we handicap ourselves in this fight. It’s not like we can really afford to let them go.

My point in all of this is Dems have more to lose than to gain by stonewalling this. The planets are aligned and now is the time to act. We’ve done a great job so far guiding this ship, let’s not ruin the momentum.


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40 responses to “The Maximum Effective Range of an Excuse”

  1. JerryT Avatar
    JerryT

    My guess is that there is a “culture” in the military that has to change. We have gone through generations with one set of expectations, and regardless of what rules we pass or what the general public wants, the colonels and generals and even the captains and sergeants are the ones who have to implement and deal with the new rules. I think the writing is on the wall (or maybe the “shot across the bow’ analogy would be better) that this change is coming. A little more time isn’t unreasonable to determine responses and procedures, evaluate consequences, and develop counseling and training resources.

    How long does it take to change a culture? Sure, we could force a quick change, but is that any better than a more drawn out but less confrontational process?

  2. innerredneckexposed Avatar

    Word. I’m with grift. Word.

  3. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    Maybe we should. We seem to be on the same page but need to iron out a few details.

  4. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Zaid.. you pick the location and we can chat!

  5. griftdrift Avatar

    I wish I’d started a pool

  6. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    “I’ve been fighting the LBGT fight a very along time, and frankly before it was a “equality” fight. I’m not under any allusions that it will be solved by 1 man.”

    I didn’t say it would be solved by 1 man. I said he could effectively end DADT tomorrow, which is 100% true. And every day that he doesn’t do it he’s being a bigot and hurting our national security, too.

    If you are going to go easy on him don’t expect him to do anything for you.

  7. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    “No one said that gays were anything less than human-you took it there.”

    I’m just pointing out your hypocrisy.

    I said marriage rights were going to be realpolitiked out and people jumped on me as “tolerant” of “homophobia.”

    Now Obama and his Admin. and the rest of the Dems are dragging their feet like hell on gay rights issues and their defenders are tripping over themselves to yell, “No more! LEAVE OBAMA ALONE!”

    Can’t have it both ways.

  8. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Seriously Z, you are now quoting Barney? Whatever-

    Barney who for 20 years threw trans people under the bus is now an authority on equality.. give me a break.

    I wish you could have seen his sorry ass explanation on black wednesday- October 2007 with ENDA. Phulez.

    No one said that gays were anything less than human-you took it there.

    What some of us have been pointing out is the “politics” of this issue isn’t that simple.

    I’ve been fighting the LBGT fight a very along time, and frankly before it was a “equality” fight. I’m not under any allusions that it will be solved by 1 man.

    It will take more years and many more discussions before folks are comfortable with these issues.

    If folks thought they were electing the “gay” issue guy they were not listening at all to what he was saying. Either that or they were only hearing what they wanted to. They should have been voting for the Green party then. They have an actual party plank.

    What a whole lot of folks in the community need to understand is they and their spokespeople haven’t been doing all they could either.

    Just look at the mess that was Prop8. Zero for them to be proud of in that mess. To that end, Obama has done more for equality than many within the community black tie functions etc. If they really were at the table, why isn’t we’re not asking for their proof of performance? Whiny ass Joe S. geesh and I though all that money was for his vaulted “access”. Don’t get me started.

  9. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    Maybe we are all wrong.

    But Obama’s DOJ is even rubbing salt in the wounds here, not just being callous and indifferent.

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/17/frank-slams-obama-for-big-mistake-on-defense-of-marriage-act/

  10. innerredneckexposed Avatar

    “Senator Reid when asked why he wasn’t doing it said Obama could do it.”

    THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!!!!!!!!!!

    Seriously though, all y’all are wrong.

  11. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    Instead of Democrats pointing fingers at eachother claiming that it’s everyone else’s responsibility to act, they should just act themselves in every capacity they have. Their cowardice harms our national security.

  12. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    Senator Reid when asked why he wasn’t doing it said Obama could do it.

  13. Jason D. Avatar
    Jason D.

    JMP, you are correct that the president can not repeal DADT via EO, however he can he suspend it’s implementation which has the same effect.

  14. J.M. Prince Avatar
    J.M. Prince

    Umm, No it can not be done with an EO because this is now Congressional legislation that needs to be overturned. The Prez is not a King. No matter how much the prior one imagined himself to be.

    And I’ll bring back something I said at the top of this string:

    “So lest we imagine that if we whine & pout & shout that things will be done in a thrice, but more realistically effective Coalitions need to be built and tended to advance this position & cause. We all know that it’s an important issue for many. And issue of freedom & justice to be certain. But other than your curses, complaints & all that valuable precious & precocious whining, what do you bring to the table? Why should your priorities be acted on more quickly than say, health care for all which has been waiting also some 60 years for fruition? How about fixing & righting a deeply troubled economy? Where does that rank?”

    Let’s quantify that shall we? Just for those still in school. When the NAS last studied the issue, and being un & under insured kills an estimated ~20K+ people a year, and sickens & injures at least 100K more.

    On the relative sliding scale of ‘needs urgent attention, Now’ thru ‘an historic injustice that needs to be righted & corrected’, to say ‘joblessness now at Great Depression levels in many places’ where should we place ‘correcting DADT’? And Why? And certainly, why now?

    As deliciously provocative and certainly as fitfully comely as all the petulant protests have been, can you beat up the man trying to save all those lives? Be they ever as unworthy of attention as your own?

    To ask that is the start of understanding here. Sure ‘attention must be paid’. But everything has it’s cost in time & energy expended. Shouting down everyone who might want to mention that, even if they’re allies, well it must be very satisfying I guess. But getting it all done? No one seems to ever be around to listen, learn or hear how that might be done either. The shouting is always more attractive somehow. Sadly. JMP

  15. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    “But sure. We imagine that now that public opinion has actually swung positively that repealing DADT might be relatively easy. But again that requires legislation now, not just an EO. Which means it has to get in line in Congress. Behind the Dozens of Obama nominees still being held up for one particular Repug pique or another. Probably behind the huge health care push too, and the new financial reform legislation.”

    It can be done with an executive order. People in Congress have said that.

  16. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    And by the way, every time another intelligence official — like the 22 arabic translators who’ve been fired — has to resign because they’re gay, the people standing in the way of ending DADT are endangering our national security, too.

    But it’s OK, the gays can wait. It’s not like their real human beings or anything, k.

  17. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    “Zaid, I really don’t think it’s “pathetically easy”. But far be for me to disagree with you.”

    Executive order or up-or-down vote in Congress. It’s not like you’re crafting some complicated piece of legislation. It’s basically pulling the lever on something the re’s little opposition to.

    If Obama can spend all this time using his DOJ to defend DADT or to cover up for Bush’s torture, I’m sure he can find the time to do this.

  18. J.M. Prince Avatar
    J.M. Prince

    Yeah, I’m also betting that you’d not see the particular urgency of ridding the police of the sorts that actually led and participated in lynchings either. That sounds pretty self evident, right?

    But sure. We imagine that now that public opinion has actually swung positively that repealing DADT might be relatively easy. But again that requires legislation now, not just an EO. Which means it has to get in line in Congress. Behind the Dozens of Obama nominees still being held up for one particular Repug pique or another. Probably behind the huge health care push too, and the new financial reform legislation.

    Which of course appalls all the activists who don’t see why this might not be done by Fri afternoon for a signing by Monday eve. I was actually waiting for something equally as petulant coming out from David Mixner too, and he does not disappoint.

    Now, think back. Not too far back mind you. To the great liberal Hollywood oasis. Filled to the brim with ‘The Gay’. Wonderful writers, TV producers, filmmakers, comedy mavens, scads of smart, inventive, creative Hollywood types. And yet still in one of the most Liberal states of the Union? Tell us how the late but oh so miserable Prop 8 fared in yes, the ‘fairy Homeland’ (forgive me)!? Defeated. Ignominiously too by one of the most inept misbegotten & disorganized political campaigns ever seen. Again in CA. It was like watching Dick Nixon beating up the ‘Pink lady’ once again. Just disgracefully rotten.

    Yeah it’s all so easy. But only in retrospect, and by the unknowing. JMP

  19. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Zaid, I really don’t think it’s “pathetically easy”. But far be for me to disagree with you.

  20. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    “This is what history tells us. Accomplishing civil rights politically is neither easy, nor short. JMP”

    This one’s pathetically easy (DADT) and should not be compared to the stuff you were mentioning, if you’re talking about political easiness and time. I’m not sure if this analogy you’re drawing or the Weimar one on the Iran thread is more farfetched.

  21. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    “I’m not marching for the media Zaid. I’m marching in solidarity with a community of people who want congress and the president to act and we will be a visible reminder of their inaction.

    A march isn’t “instead of” something, it’s in addition to all of the other activities and it’s also a way for communities of all types to participate together.

    I’ve heard the dis on the march plenty-but I’m still going.”

    We don’t have unlimited resources and time, if that stuff’s better spent elsewhere for the cause, than so be it I say. If you really care about something you need to do the most effective thing you can to get there.

  22. J.M. Prince Avatar
    J.M. Prince

    Thanks Jerry,

    http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005139

    Again, as the citation shows this was wholly inadequate for the need & demand for asylum (as ever), and again we’re not exactly talking of the war refugee issue which was happening urgently after 1940. The St. Louis (1939 refugee ship) crisis is also telling here as well. And FDR was unmoved, and refused to allow the legal immigration of 900 Jewish refugees, 254 who would go on later to die at Hitler’s hands. But this is well into the weeds for most.

    Suffice it to say that for various reasons, it took a very long time to successfully work on either Civil & Voting Rights. Some of which took well over 100 years to come to fruition. Even when lives were at stake.

    This is what history tells us. Accomplishing civil rights politically is neither easy, nor short. JMP

  23. JerryT Avatar
    JerryT

    http://tinyurl.com/mmbs8f

    “About 85,000 Jewish refugees (out of 120,000 Jewish emigrants) reached the United States between March 1938 and September 1939…”

  24. J.M. Prince Avatar
    J.M. Prince

    Needs citation Jerry. Thanks. There’s plenty of difference between yes, ‘Jewish Immigrants’ (however classed) and war refugees, specifically from Germany or occupied territories.

    But yeah, make an appeal to history using historical analogies to try and bolster your point for advancing civil rights today? And the clear hazard may be that someone takes you seriously, and wants to examine said history critically. And the clear and present horrors that someone may have more than 800 words to say on the topic.

    Of course water boarding would be easier. Or quicker certainly.

    Given the title of the post? I call upon the tall dapper ghost of

    A. Philip Randolph of the BSCP to tell the tale. He wanted a March on Washington also during FDR’s time to protest discrimination & for Civil Rights in 1941. The now famous Civil Rights March on Washington, featuring MLK only later came about in 1963, again over the protests of another Democratic Prez worried about civil unrest. So again, ‘The Maximum Effective Range of an Excuse’? Can easily be 20 years. That’s what I’m saying. Mostly.

    In under 200 words, and none of them too big.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_Sleeping_Car_Porters

    JMP

  25. innerredneckexposed Avatar

    Cleve Jones was saying (something to the effect of) the difference between today’s rallies and the ones done in the 60s etc was that there was a sh&t ton of organizing that went into earlier ones. He was pretty outspoken about not partaking in these rallies.

    And you want to talk about useless, it begins and ends with HRC. All they’ve ever done is raise money, support HRC (the woman), and keep HRC afloat.

    If reid is the most ineffective majority leader, so what.

  26. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    I’m not marching for the media Zaid. I’m marching in solidarity with a community of people who want congress and the president to act and we will be a visible reminder of their inaction.

    A march isn’t “instead of” something, it’s in addition to all of the other activities and it’s also a way for communities of all types to participate together.

    I’ve heard the dis on the march plenty-but I’m still going.

  27. JerryT Avatar
    JerryT

    Just for clarification: The U.S. did accept more than 100,000 Jewish immigrants between 1938 and 1939.

  28. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    I don’t think the march is a good idea, tactically. Having been in a ton of marches on DC in the past few years, I’d say how marginalized they are by the media, it’s a better idea to take those resources and lobby locally, write op-eds, have smaller actions and rallies, and really do that sort of focused stuff.

    Reid will go down as least effective Senator Majority Leader ever btw.

  29. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    According to Sen. Reid they have no co-sponsors for the bill to repeal DODT.

    Obama has said- pretty much all during the campaign that he won’t use an exce order like was used by Truman.

    I’m not going to weigh in on my opinion about this, ENDA, DOMA, Hate Crimes et al till after I hear from all the same groups that are attacking the admin that they will be joining me in DC on Oct 11th at the Equality March on Washington. Right now all HRC and others are using this for is fundraising, sigh, again.

  30. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    I post like 2 sentences and he gets set off talking about Truman and Gentiles and God knows what. It’s great.

  31. griftdrift Avatar

    Brevity is the soul of the flame

  32. innerredneckexposed Avatar

    I was thinking that EXACT thing Catherine! That proves we are great minds b/c we think alike!

    Seriously though, if y’all gonna piss all over each other at least be entertaining. Shorter posts help with that, otherwise we aren’t going to read the insults. Also a sockpuppet or two couldn’t hurt.

  33. CatherineAtlanta Avatar
    CatherineAtlanta

    Good lord. Why don’t you guys get a room.

  34. J.M. Prince Avatar
    J.M. Prince

    Once again, you make an intelligent argument appealing to history, the history of bigotry & hatred, the politics of same and the difficulty of overcoming all of these serious impediments, and we get more childish name calling. From our resident ‘UGA Liberal’. Yeah. SSDD.

    Once again Z, if they were actually handing our degrees for merit, intelligence or rigor of your thought or arguments? You’d be waiting a very long time indeed.

    How & why did Truman issue his EO on discrimination in the Armed Forces? Well as a matter of fact it was a concerted campaign from many quarters, but especially from black Veterans of the First WW, who wanted to go & fight in the new war for their country. Seeing the futility of lobbying FDR on the issue, they successfully lobbied Eleanor Roosevelt to get the Tuskegee Airmen trained & fighting by the end of the war. It was quite a vociferous effort, with many, many lobbying hours & years spent. Working. Hard. To convince other people & to ‘give the Negro a fighting chance to fight the Nazi’s’. It took awhile. So did effective integration in the Army. Units were still having plenty of trouble in ‘Nam with the concept too. Some 20 years later.

    DADT? The numbers only very recently have actually turned in favor of tolerance & humanity.

    But nothing is too complicated for those ever clever UGA Libs like Z. Glad to hear that you’re catching up on some reading Z. Reading is fundamental. If you keep the mental part that may help some too. JMP

  35. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    Once again, JMP sees someone with a (D) next to their name being criticized and goes off on an irrational and long-winded rant about nothing 🙁

    Coalition to oppose DADT? This isn’t exactly a complicated issue and country is overwhelmingly against it, stop being a bullshit apologist

  36. J.M. Prince Avatar

    Yep. DADT was silly & stupid, and if you were not around at the time (or politically unaware, which probably means most of Z’s compatriots), you’ve got little idea of what went down & why.

    All this happened Even Before Clinton took office. The right wing forces were calling for impeachment due to his ‘acceptance’ of such ‘barbarism’. And the youngsters among you can snicker & titter at all of this, but it was real and it was & remains quite dangerous. Yes, people were on the radio openly talking about assassination to ‘save the soul of our nation’. All day. Everyday. On MOST of the channels of the AM radio dial. With NO Net to ‘back them up’. There was NO effective way to counter the message of pure hatred. The overwhelming message from ALL & EVERY media outlet (including most of the MSM) was ‘well everyone hates gays, it’s against most religions, hence we’ve got to do something to prevent it!’ When they were not shouting that, the haters were allowed to go on TV anytime they wanted to make their points.

    Very little real or unbiased information survived such an onslaught. And oh, BTW? Without the Net? Obama would not have either. Even today. That’s the power of the media.

    So it was seen as a ‘temporary fix’ that could (and might have been) more flexibly administered than what actually happened, due to several circumstances of history.

    And folks? History is your guide here. Once again. Who & what was the most powerful Democratic coalition in memory? The Great FDR coalition & Congresses. They got plenty done to save us from the further ravages of the Great Depression, saved the world from fascism on the march, and instituted the Cold War in order to contain expansionist Communism. The defeated tyranny abroad, expanded the middle class at home, and created the modern economy that we still enjoy & feed from.

    But I’ll tell you what they did not & somehow could not do. At the height of the most disastrous world war we’ve ever known, (WW11), they did not, and could not accept more than a few token Jewish refugees to save them from extermination in Europe. Not much more than a few spare 100’s as a matter of fact. Forget Gitmo. The foreign terrorists on our shores? We housed more than 500K German & Italian prisoners of war in this country. They were often seen in the Southern fields tending & harvesting crops, and were allowed to sit down in places that Jim Crow laws excluded blacks from. Including movie houses & concert venues. We treated them so well that 1000’s of them actually re-settled in our country, so magnanimous was our treatment of them.

    By contrast FDR had plenty of opportunities to advance the cause of ‘resettlement of refugees’ from Hitler’s Europe, but very little was done, at least at home. Star refugees like the wave of German physicists who came right before the war would help build our Atomic bomb and more scientific endeavors. Almost all had to leave some family behind due to tragic ‘restrictions’ on immigration that would remain in place for some decades yet.

    And this was FDR at the very height of his considerable & newly expansive war powers. It never got any better than that. And he was unwilling & unable to extend this humanitarian impulse to much of anyone who might be a war refugee. Unless they too might prove very useful to the war effort. Some said this was due to the strong anti-immigration sentiment in the country, as well as xenophobia & worse. Public opinion was evidently needed & reserved for the ‘more important’ war efforts. Still, vast coalitions of Jews & Gentiles begged FDR to ‘let in the Jews’ who were later gassed by the millions in death camps. After all the fine entreaties? He barely budged, and by almost the end of the war some token spare 2-300 or so were resettled in the US.

    Example 2. FDR Never signed and his Congress never allowed to the floor an anti-lynching Bill, even though it was regularly introduced into almost every Congress in the 1940’s. Again the most powerful & numerous Democratic coalition there ever was, and they were unable to even get it to the floor in the Senate, due to the old Southern moss back racists that FDR needed in his coalition to move legislation that he needed to save the economy & to win the war. Despite the atrocities that were happening sometimes weekly in much of the South, with ‘extra-legal’ murder of blacks for almost any imaginable reason at all. The Rule of the Lynch (mobs) would reign supreme until the FBI was formally tasked with investigating racial killings some 25 years hence. They would be mostly ineffectual at this until they were officially backed by a DoJ that actually understood the problem, and insisted on an end to widespread racial violence, especially Polling related racial violence. That only came with the Civil Rights Acts or Voting Rights Acts 1964&5. And Hoover’s death in 1972.

    Now? The USSC may well overturn that landmark legislation possibly this week.

    So lest we imagine that if we whine & pout & shout that things will be done in a thrice, but more realistically effective Coalitions need to be built and tended to advance this position & cause. We all know that it’s an important issue for many. And issue of freedom & justice to be certain. But other than your curses, complaints & all that valuable precious & precocious whining, what do you bring to the table? Why should your priorities be acted on more quickly than say, health care for all which has been waiting also some 60 years for fruition? How about fixing & righting a deeply troubled economy? Where does that rank?

    It’s been a bit over 5 months. Everyone wants their own sparkly magic to be applied to their lives. I know it’s injustice, and it hurts and continues to be harmful to many. The Asian War internees (also tragically done by FDR & agreed to by a USSC) waited some 40 years for their piece of justice. many died without seeing it. Some other smaller groups of internees were never officially acknowledged. There are vast stretches of territory and humanity suffering & lost due & during the 2nd WW, many have never been acknowledged, accepted, or made right.

    Wish that we might that all the wrongs of the world can easily, quickly & effectively addressed. They can not. They will not. So yeah, whining is a part of it. But so is recognizing that you need to actually stand up and Do politics to get it all done too. Everything noble, just & true just does not fall into your lap fully assembled and ready to use. It has to be designed & built. There’s unfortunately more to politics & activism than just demanding your rights. That’s just the start.

    And yeah, sorry for the length. I’m not certain anyone might read it. JMP

  37. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    And what’s with this whole thing of having too much on the table? Get a couple of their lobbyist friends and write legislation that repeals DADT and then get some Congressman who’s not a coward or fool (Kucinich comes to mind) and make it a privileged resolution, which brings it to the floor as an up or down vote.

    Tada!

    I might be being flippant, but I share my blog with half a dozen gay men who are pretty pissed off that the government’s still treating them this way in 2009.

  38. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    I got chided pretty harshly for being “tolerant of homophobia and sexism” because I pointed out that issues like this are often realpolitik fodder for the Democrats, but I’ll say on this one — DADT is opposed by like 3/4 of the public — the Democrats are being pathetic, and maybe even a little moreso than usual. They have no excuse for dragging their feet on an issue where the supermajority of the public agrees with them. It’s cowardly bigotry at its best.

    They could do this tomorrow if they wanted with little political fallout.

  39. Jason D. Avatar
    Jason D.

    Was referring to this administration and this Congress.

  40. Zaid Avatar
    Zaid

    How did they do a great job so far guiding the ship? DOMA and DADT were Clinton darlings.

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