Candidates Get Down On Gays In The Military

GOP Gabs About Telling


The CNN/YouTube debates sure were straight last night, huh? We had to wade through immigration, Iraq and the economy before we got our ‘mo moment.

For those of you who came and went before the blessed event, we’ll fill you in: homosexual and Retired Brigadier General Keith Kerr inquired:

I’m a retired brigadier general with 43 years of service. And I’m a graduate of the Special Forces Officer Course, the Commanding General Staff Course and the Army War College. And I’m an openly gay man.

I want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.

Well said, if you ask us.

We break the candidates down, after the jump.

Hunter’s Holy Militaristic Mission: Congressman Duncan Hunter might as well have called for God’s army! The Congressman from California first offered his obligatory “thank you” before telling Kerr that we need Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell because Army folk are “conservatives”. To introduce a queer, then, would disrupt “unit cohesion,” as Colin Powell claimed.

…Most kids who leave that breakfast table and go out and serve in the military and make that corporate decision with their family, most of them are conservatives.

They have conservative values, and they have Judeo-Christian values. To force those people to work in a small tight unit with somebody who is openly homosexual goes against what they believe to be their principles, and it is their principles, is I think a disservice to them.

So, basically, Hunter enjoys ignorant hillbillies who refuse progress. Perfect for Iraq! Oh, and that fixed “Judeo-Christian” thing – not gonna fly in the Middle East. Just a note.

Huckabee Likes A Military Uniform: Moderator Anderson Cooper didn’t miss a beat after Hunter’s insane assertion. The handsome newsman tossed the Don’t Ask question over to Mike Huckabee, who likes his military homogenous:

The Uniform Code of Military Justice is probably the best rule, and it has to do with conduct. People have a right to have whatever feelings, whatever attitudes they wish, but when their conduct could put at risk the morale, or put at risk even the cohesion that Duncan Hunter spoke of, I think that’s what is at issue. And that’s why our policy is what it is.

Note that Huckabee provides no proof that homos damage morale. He leaves it uniformly hypothetical, which, ultimately, negates his political assertion.

Romney’s A Fucking Pussy: Ah, here’s where it gets interesting. Cooper got all sorts of tenacious with former Massachusetts and forever flip-flopper Mitt Romney. The gray-haired anchor whipped out his steel trap memory and reminded Romney of his 1994 Senatorial pledge: “…You said in 1994 [while campaigning] that you looked forward to the day when gays and lesbians could serve, and I quote, “openly and honestly in our nation’s military.” Do you stand by that?” The short answer? He doesn’t. The long answer? Here’s the entire exchange:

COOPER: Governor Romney, you said in 1994 that you looked forward to the day when gays and lesbians could serve, and I quote, “openly and honestly in our nation’s military.” Do you stand by that?

ROMNEY: This isn’t that time. This is not that time. We’re in the middle of a war. The people who have…

COOPER: Do you look forward to that time, though, one day?

ROMNEY: I’m going to listen to the people who run the military to see what the circumstances are like. And my view is that, at this stage, this is not the time for us to make that kind of…

COOPER: Is that a change in your position…

ROMNEY: Yes, I didn’t think it would work. I didn’t think “don’t ask/don’t tell” would work. That was my — I didn’t think that would work. I thought that was a policy, when I heard about it, I laughed. I said that doesn’t make any sense to me.

ROMNEY: And you know what? It’s been there now for, what, 15 years? It seems to have worked.

COOPER: So, just so I’m clear, at this point, do you still look forward to a day when gays can serve openly in the military or no longer?

ROMNEY: I look forward to hearing from the military exactly what they believe is the right way to have the right kind of cohesion and support in our troops and I listen to what they have to say.

The audience then booed. And so did we, albeit for entirely different reasons.

With regard to Romney’s impotent reply: we’d like to remind everyone that a 2006 poll reported that 73% of military personnel would embrace queer comrades. A potential president should know that already.

McCain’s Brain Fried: John McCain also ignored the previously mentioned evidence. Like Hunter, the one-time POW thanked Kerr for his service, but then proceeded to praise DADT. Apparently his pals General Petraeus and General Odierno approve:

…I talk to our military leaders, beginning with our joint chiefs of staff and the leaders in the field, such as General Petraeus and General Odierno and others who are designated leaders with the responsibility of the safety of the men and women under their command and their security and protect them as best they can.

Almost unanimously, they tell me that this present policy is working, that we have the best military in history, that we have the bravest, most professional, best prepared, and that this policy ought to be continued because it’s working.

Bullshit. We don’t have the best army in history. That was Sparta. We may have the most technology and money, but that doesn’t mean we’re the bravest, best prepared or most professional. If we were, we wouldn’t be stuck in Iraq.

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