HRC has been lamenting Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’s 14h anniversary by asking the Democratic presidential candidates one simple question: “If you are elected President, what concrete steps would you take to overturn ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?'”
John Edwards and Chris Dodd blew their respective responses on the obvious: our government should not discriminate against gays in the military. Neither candidate, however, found time to actually answer.
Senator Joe Biden of Delaware doesn’t do much better…
Here’s what Biden has to say for himself:
I would end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It is antiquated, unworkable and wrong.
I’ve been to Afghanistan. I’ve been to Iraq. Other countries – our allies serving alongside US forces in Iraq – permit open service. It has had no negative impact on force morale or the performance of our brave soldiers.
We don’t have enough troops to fulfill our current missions. But more than 300 language experts have been fired under “don’t ask, don’t tell” including more than 50 who were fluent in Arabic. More than 9,000 soldiers have been dismissed since the policy took effect in 1993. The idea that we turn away brave and patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve solely because of their sexual orientation is ridiculous and totally irrational.
While we give Biden points for a direct opener, we’re going to have to criticize him for his meandering and, ultimately, incomplete explanation.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Either the Democrats aren’t keen on following directions, lack basic reading comprehension or simply don’t know how the fuck they’re going to straighten out Don’t Ask.
jknight
love how they all skirt the issue. oh and as of the end of 2006, the number is 11,704. this does not include the coasties.
unirover
He says he will *end* the policy. That’s the concrete step that matters. His answer sounds fine to me.
Gregg
Sounds like typical political campaigning to me. I would expect nothing more at this point in the election cycle.
Lori
I’m not sure what the author wants. Biden says he will end the policy because it doesn’t work. I guess Hillary gives you the answer you want, the problem is that she is such a divisive figure, she won’t be able to get anything actually done for the country.
Contrast this with Biden who actually has a plan for getting us out of Iraq *responsibly*. I don’t have 100% congruency with him on all issues either, but if we don’t deal with the war and global warming, nothing else is going to matter anyway.
hisurfer
He says he would end it. What part of that is not clear?
Jason
I don’t get it. I thought his answer was just perfect. He said he’d end it, and he gave a lot of great details about why the policy is so horrible.
jknight
well thats all well and good, really it is. I am so glad to see that so many presidential hopefuls are for the end of it. But I don’t think that they know that DADT is a statute that congress must repeal. Has one of the candidates explained how they will push congress to repeal?
spunkbox
Yeah, I thought he was pretty clear that he would end it. It’s also pretty clear that I would like to get into a suit and tie, sucking off Daddy scene with him.
Rebecca
STEPS. CONCRETE STEPS. That’s what’s missing from almost all of the answers.
bmd
I am under the impression that very little would be needed to push congress to repeal the legislation. Right now, like on most legislation, congress is stalling and waiting for a president who wont veto anything progressive. And no real steps are needed. Just one piece of legislation, that would likely be easily attached to an apropriations bill.
tim
I can’t quite figure out what’s so wrong with this answer. He says he’s against the policy and would end it.
Are we looking for a detailed legislative strategy? I’m not sure we get that on any issue from a presidential campaign. Looking at health care, for example, the candidates describe their individual plans in detail, but not who they’re going to work with (either in Congress or elsewhere) to get that plan passed. Here, luckily enough, the plan is simple: repeal DADT. It sounds to me like Biden would try to do that.
Steve Hansen
There’s nothing wrong with Biden’s answer. He gave the “right” answer (that is, he would repeal DADT). He then went on to explain why doing this would not have adverse effect on military readiness or moral.
The author of the story just used a misleading and inaccurate headline to attack Biden. Misleading and inaccurate headlines are an old tradition in hack journalism. It works because most people just scan the headlines, and don’t actually read most articles.