Anyone know why President Obama keeps using the word “change” instead of “repeal” when it comes to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell? We’re pretty sure — actually, we’re certain — Mr. Obama promised he would get rid of the law if made president. And his whole premise for continuing to enforce DADT rests with this premise: it’s constitutionally valid. Yes, the president is standing behind the defense “but we legalized this type of discrimination” to keep it alive.
don't tell hell
Did Barack Obama’s Vocabulary Lose the Word ‘Repeal’?
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Bill Perdue
Obama, the anti-GLBT bigot, says Clinton’s infamously bigoted law DADT is ‘constitutional’. Constitutional or not DADT has the force of law because the same bigot who signed it signed DOMA. Clintons bottomless well of hostility and bigotry towards the LGBT communities got us into this mess.
So what if Clintons DADT is constitutional? So was slavery. So was the denial of votes for women. The bigoted law signed by Clinton has to be repealed, not changed or amended. It leads, as Clinton, a constitutional scholar knew all along that it would, to harassment, loss of benefits and at least two murders we know of.
Obama’s real reason for upholding Clintons DADT has nothing to do with partisan equivocations or legalese. It has everything to do with the fact that during his campaign, helped by the pandering expertise of bigots like Joshua Dubois and Leah Daughtry, Obama was able to capture many of the southern baptists, mormons and catholics back from the Republicans.
“gawd’s in the mix” was his battle cry and it got him the bigot vote and torpedoed our chances to defeat Prop 8. He’s not about to do anything that might drive those bigots back to the Republicans. We’re paying the price for Obama’s replay of the Clinton and Bush presidencies. Obama, unfortunately for us, is the perfect Clinton clone.
(How long will it take that pitiable shill Bedwell, using his alias d’jour to conjure up some more lies? He really has no option other than lying because the facts of history always prove him wrong. Not long, I’ll wager. He’s become an expert liar, a craft you have to cultivate if you want to be Bill Clintons’ lap dog.)
Fitz
The plan to change it is some half-ass solution like “If you don’t out yourself, then you can stay”. Just be more like, say… Anderson Cooper, and all is forgiven.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
Stepping over the slime trail snakes like Perdue always leave…
Other than the hissssssssssssssssssing, there are two others sounds you’re hearing:
The first is from Obama: Blah…blah…blahdety blah blah…with whipped cream lies and a cherry picked fact or two on top.
The arbiter of “constitutionally valid”…the US Supreme Court…has never ruled that DADT is. Time for “the best student” Harvard Constitutional law professor [and Obama apologist] Lawrence Tribe “ever had” to take a refresher course.
“changed in a way that ultimately works well for our military”?
“CHANGED”???….Danger, Will Robinson! They’re avoiding the “REPEAL” word again…. Remember, St. Obama declareth, “Words matter.”
Will a reporter finally PLEASE ask WHAT THE HELL “in a way that ultimately works well for our military” and “all the ramifications” MEANS the next time His Holiness…or Gibbs…or Gates…or Mullen…throws up a barrage of bullshit like this????
All through the Presidential campaign…all the MANY times he promised to fight for REPEAL the moment he took office he never mentioned any “ramifications” blah blah blah.
Despites his lame attempt to dodge, he already IS oh so CONVENIENTLY ignoring a law passed by Congress: “10 United States Code § 12305,” titled “Authority of THE PRESIDENT to SUSPEND CERTAIN LAWS RELATING TO Promotion, Retirement, AND SEPARATION” which trumps 10 U.S.C. § 654 aka DADT. It says, IN BLACK AND WHITE [annotations mine]:
“Notwithstanding ANY other provision of law [INCLUDING DADT], during any period members of a reserve component are serving on active duty pursuant to an order to active duty under authority of section 12301, 12302, or 12304 of this title, THE PRESIDENT MAY SUSPEND ANY PROVISION OF LAW [INCLUDING DADT] relating to promotion, retirement, OR SEPARATION [AKA DISCHARGES] applicable to ANY MEMBER OF THE ARMED FORCES [INCLUDING GAYS] who THE PRESIDENT DETERMINES is essential to the national security of the United States.”
Contrary to the dishonest Obambots, including WAPO, use of that LAW which CONGRESS PASSED…
1. Is NOT repeat NOT “overturning” DADT. It merely, LEGALLY overrides it.
2. Nor is it analogous to abuse of “signing authority” Nor is it an “end run around Congress” because it is a power CONGRESS HAS EXTENDED to the Executive Branch because they understood that in times of national emergency, such discretion by the Commander-in-Chief is entirely appropriate.
If they had thought that discharging gays was the one kind of “separation” that the President should be prevented from stopping under 12305 they would have specified that in the statute. THEY DID NOT. They left the decision about ALL discharges, overriding ALL other laws, up to the President in a time of “national emergency” which by THEIR definition we are in NOW!
Others may be too stupid to be able to hold such a two laws/one trumping the other thought in their heads, but Barack Obama is not. Neither is Harry Reid who said that he hoped Obama would “administratively” stop discharges, which his aide said meant issuing an executive order, until Congress could repeal. Last time I looked, Reid didn’t have a reputation for throwing Constitutional Molotov cocktails. Nor The New York Times. Nor The New Republic. Ad infinitum.
By refusing to stop the discharges of Arabic linguists like Iraq veteran Lt. Dan Choi when we continue to be so short of linguists as we were when that shortage resulted in failure to translate in time a terrorist message intercepted the day BEFORE 9/11 …and decorated combat veteran/flight nurse Maj. Margaret Witt when the Air Force has a shortage of flight nurses …and experienced fighter pilot Iraq veteran Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach the case can be made that Obama is guilty of dereliction of his duty as our President and the Commander-in-Chief.
WAIT! The case has already been made!
“WHO would dare suggest such a thing?” you ask.
No less than Barack Obama….unintentionally, of course, when he declared to gays at the White House on Monday, June 29th, 2009:
“preventing patriotic Americans from serving our country weakens our national security.”
WHY is he continuing to weaken national security, why is he not using the power GIVEN HIM BY CONGRESS???
Well, he revealed the answer to Lt. Col. Fehrenbach on June 29th: “there’s a generational gap.”
TRANSLATION:
That’s the other sound you hear. It’s the sound of the Pentagon tails wagging the dog …..and the dog is letting them…and I don’t mean Bo.
[img]http://www.gaymilitarysignal.com/MatlovichGraveMB0907.jpg[/img]
InExile
Lots of you voted for “CHANGE” so change is what you will get. Remember “CHANGE” was his platform for his campaign although few looked at the details of “CHANGE”. Some of us saw the bus coming down the road 2 years ago, so we are not surprised, just disappointed after reluctantly supporting the man with money and votes in the general election.
Washington seems to be a LEADERSHIP vacuum these days with very few taking a true leadership role for the LGBT community. The only real leadership we have seen is from Hillary bringing all the equality the laws would allow to the State Department.
As usual the politicians try to run, hide, avoid, and delay any real action to help the LGBT community. I guess we should be happy, at least they give us lip service which is more than we received from the previous administration.
Bill Perdue
@InExile: I’ll agree with about Obama’s hopey-changey agenda. It’s a crock.
But thats because Obama is a Clinton clone. Both are firmly in the camp of christer rightwingers and military homohaters. Both support NAFTA and giveaways to the looter rich. Both are for exacting concessions from working peoples wages and both support the war. Both oppose socialized medicine. Both are right centrist hustlers.
The difference is that Bill Clinton is an unreconstructed Dixiecrat and Obama is a Chichago machine pol.
Hillary Clinton has the same political problems but she’s more of a Thatcher clone. Stern, mean spirited, arrogant and of all of them the most dementedly christian.
[img]http://www.politicususa.com/files/imagepicker/j/jmeasley/obama_clintons_0123.jpg[/img]
Bill
We’ve been used. Bamboozled. Played for fools. And played for votes.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
@InExile:
And, don’t forget, the Clintons killed Vince Foster AND Christ, gassed 6 million Jews, invented slavery, created AIDS using Bill’s boy’s Gilbert Chemistry Set and Little Hill’s Easy-Bake oven to annihilate gays, are personally melting the polar ice caps, and, most unforgiveable of all… cancelled “Laverne & Shirley.”
[img]http://taylorsiluwe.typepad.com/taylor_siluwe/images/2008/03/21/hillary.jpg[/img]
Bill Perdue
Mikie, or is it Francis, let’s just say the subtitles of humor are not your forte.
They’re just common, run of the mill political hustlers out to make a buck. One of them is a lawyer, just like you. Sordid.
They’re Democrat pols you’re a Democrat shill. Sickening.
They right centrist, pro-war, anti-union, and worker and etc. And that’s why elderly rightist lapdogs like you admire them so. Nauseating.
wondermann
As usual, this is a silly article and most of you fall for EVERY TIME.
Obama has said the same thing, nothing’s changed. Obama has always said he wanted to change it. Why are we being so foolish about this? This proves that our community is in a state of confusion. And I wish you all would read a law book, it’s clearly obvious that a law or policy is protected within constitution. Did we learn that in grade school?
I’m trying to be mean, I really want this to be changed. However, I’m not going to be fooled in hating a president over assumptions and mess.
Cam
@wondermann: You said “And I wish you all would read a law book, it’s clearly obvious that a law or policy is protected within constitution. Did we learn that in grade school?”
_________________________________________________________
Janet Napolitano legally suspended enforcement of a State Dept. practice which kicks out the spouses of U.S. citizens, if the U.S. citizen dies before they have been married two years. She suspended the practice to give Congress a chance to research ways to change and reform the law. This was all legal. Are you saying that Janet Napolitano is more powerful than Obama? Additionally, laws are changed all the time. If you had moved beyong grade school you would have learned that there are various practices and ways that laws are changed. The courts, vites, executive decisions etc… Next time, rather than sounding so condescneding you may want to assume that some people on here actually do know something about this issue.
M Shane
Queerty, in any contextmisquoting is the cheapest kind of deciept.: Yes, the president is standing behind the defense “but we legalized this type of discrimination” to keep it alive.
You should be ashamed, to stoop to that kind of stunt. Do you trhink everyone here is a complete moron.
Futher, Obama is not the one who can repeal DADT, the Congress does. Have your writers finished high school civics.?
Have you called your Senators about the Mathew Shepard legislation. That’s up this week.
I don’t quite get this Right Wing persistence of Queertys.. That is the only way to read this continuous intentional lack of comprehension. Obama is early in his term and has accomplished an incredible amount: DADT is hardly the most important legislation to happen in America. I have written 6 letters and made several calls this week to Congressmen about important legislation.
If the U.S. goes down the tubes , you can be sure the gay isues won’nt seem too important. It sems like you folks have a very short memory of what has happened in this country and of what trouble we are in. I suspect of you just make ignorant gestures, you will just end up being someone to forget. Then maybe you’ll get a chance to see how another Bush will treat gays.
galefan2004
Gee it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with accuracy now could it? Let us think back over our history. DADT DID NOT introduce the firing of gay and lesbian soldiers. Actually, it was designed to help those that wanted to serve be protected from witch hunts (although it failed miserably). If you simply repeal DADT then you have done nothing to help the soldiers at all. You have to CHANGE the policy in order to offer protection to the gays and lesbians in the military. A simple REPEAL accomplishes NOTHING.
Cam
@galefan2004: You said “Futher, Obama is not the one who can repeal DADT, the Congress does. Have your writers finished high school civics.?
Have you called your Senators about the Mathew Shepard legislation. That’s up this week.
I don’t quite get this Right Wing persistence of Queertys.. ”
_________________________________________________________
I find it shocking that you would call the pushing of movement on gay rights “Right Wing” Have you so put your regard for the president above civil rights for gays that you are now saying that the people that are resisting movement on gay rights are Liberal and the people pushing for more movement on gay rights are “Right Wing”? Is that what you are seriously trying to say.
And
galefan2004
Gee it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with accuracy now could it? Let us think back over our history. DADT DID NOT introduce the firing of gay and lesbian soldiers.
Two things, one it codified discrimination into law, previously it had been a policy, and secondly, the expulsions of gays shot through the roof because they now had a something codified that they could use as a roadmap. Since it’s inception over 13000 military members have been kicked out.
Krysan
Bla Bla Bla…All talk, and no action. And why should we care? I mean, what’s the appeal of joining an army, where you’ll be surrounded by sweaty, muscled men? Oh, now I understand.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
@M Shane:
No one is seriously claiming Obama can “repeal” DADT. That’s another slimy distraction on your part.
He CAN do WHAT HE PROMISED which contains NONE of the equivocation and stalls or phony claims of acting in the absense of any evidence that he’s puking now at the bidding of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park of the Pentagon.
“As president, I will work with Congress and place the weight of my administration behind enactment of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which will make nondiscrimination the
official policy of the U.S. military. I will task the Defense Department and the senior command structure in every branch of the armed forces with developing an action plan for the
implementation of a full repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. And I will direct my Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to develop procedures for taking re-accession requests from
those qualified service members who were separated from the armed forces under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and still want to serve their country. The eradication of this policy will require more
than just eliminating one statute. It will require the implementation of anti-harassment policies and protocols for dealing with abusive or discriminatory behavior as we transition our armed forces away from a policy of discrimination. The military must be our active partners in developing those policies and protocols. That work should have started long ago. It will start when I take office.
America is ready to get rid of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. All that is required is leadership.” – Barack Obama, November 29, 2007.
AND:
“I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans. … Americans are yearning for leadership that can empower us to reach for what we know is possible. I believe that we can achieve the goal of full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country. To do that, we need leadership that can appeal to the best parts of the human spirit. Join with me, and I will provide that leadership.” – Barack Obama, February 28, 2008.
@galefan2004:
You simply are talking through your ass re policy vs. DADT.
@Cam:
I realize we agree in most ways about this, but, with respect, you oversimplify the discharge rates as a function of DADT itself vs. “policy.” Just as before DADT, going all the way back to WWII, they have fluctuated up or down in direct correlation to how many bodies the military needed.
The goal is not just the elimination of DADT but the proactive position of the government that discrimination against gays in the military will not be tolerated under any form.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
[img]http://www.leonardmatlovich.com/images/831_DADT-numbers-94-08.jpg[/img]
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
.
[img]http://www.leonardmatlovich.com/images/831_DADT-numbers-94-08.jpg[/img]
InExile
@Bill Perdue: You said: Hillary Clinton has the same political problems but she’s more of a Thatcher clone. Stern, mean spirited, arrogant and of all of them the most dementedly christian.
I see all the signs of sexism in this sentence, you would not say these types of things if Hillary was a man.
Thatcher Clone – Reagan’s best buddy was very conservative???
Stern – you mean strong do you not?
Mean spirited – you are referring to Leadership, are you not?
Arrogant – this must mean intelligent, opinionated, and confident?
Dementedly Christian – The media said she did not belong to or attend a church, so where do you get this from?
Sexism is an ugly thing!
Bill Perdue
@InExile:,I see all the signs of some one desperately trying to justify supporting a stern, mean spirited, arrogant and dementedly christian bigot in your remarks.
Thats pathetic.
As patheitic as Bill Clintons recent remarks that now, after years of whipping up bigoted sentiment, he supports same sex marrige. Subject, of course, to state rights. States rights are a theme that runs through the thinking of many Dixiecrats. Like Thurmond, George Wallace etc. And not unsurprisingly Obama too.
Bill Clintons remarks are meaningless.
The US Congress apologized for slavery. Congress unanimously voted to acknowledge the “fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws… on behalf of the people of the United States for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws.”
That didn’t end racism. Without reparations that apology was worse than worthless. It was an insult and so were Clintons remarks.
Promoting homohating is a crime. The fury of anti-GLBT sentiment whipped up by the opposition of the Clintons, Obama and the Bushes to same sex marriage and Clinton’s total and direct responsibility for the evils of DADT aren’t going away. Nor is Bill Clintons rampant bigotry excused in the least because he’s trying to out-maneuver another hustler, Obama, to promote some delusional 2012 comeback dreams of a third right wing christer bigot, Hillary Clinton.
Bill Perdue
@InExile: I asked you to read a little about Hillary Clinton awhile ago and you replied you knew all you had to know.
Now, stupidly, you claim she’s not a christer fundamentalist. Are you lying or are you just ignorant?
There more, but if you want to live in Hillary dream land you’d better skip it. But if you want to live in a reality based world go to Mother Jones, a highly respected lefting journal (the kind log cabin types hate) and look up Hillary’s Prayer: Hillary Clinton’s Religion and Politics,/b> or just google it.
Ignorance is ugly. And so unnecessary. RIF.
[img]http://www.motherjones.com/files/resized/files/legacy/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-251×300.300wide.359high.jpg[/img]
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
And they meet in secret catacombs miles below the Capitol building where they rip out the hearts of still living babies and eat them raw.
Mommas don’t let your babies out of your site when visiting Washington.
SM
You all have a Hate Crimes Law that has been SITTING waiting for the Senate to vote on it for months and they have stalled. The fact your all as so DYSFUNCTIONAL and cannot get them to move on this faster…..well….I cannot wait to see your plan to get Congress to vote on DADT.
Obama gave you want you want with Hate Crimes…Its Congress that blew you off. You think Congress will move on DADT if you cannot get them to move on Hate Crimes?
FIND A FUCKING STRATEGY!
You all are FOOLS!
Bill Perdue
@Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com: I don’t know about the baby murdering stuff, Mikey. I’m not a sleazy corporate lawyer.
But I do know, as the article points out, that Hillary Clinton, former Goldwater supporter and long time member of the Board of Driectors of Wal-Mart (Always Low Wages) got together and dreamed up and co-sponsored the ‘faith based’ charity scam that Rove and Obama’s Minister of Pandering Joshua Dubois use to bribe pulpit pimps.
Theres more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-hillary-clintons-religion-and-politics
[img]http://www.people.virginia.edu/~pm9k/libsci/hillary.gif[/img]
Bill Perdue
@Bill Perdue: Oops. That should be “got together with Rick Santorum, who’s almost as right wing as Mikey, and dreamed up…”
BrianZ
Both my favorite Queerty crazy people in one thread! OMG, my panties need a changing!
InExile
@Bill Perdue: Say what you want about Hillary but don’t you think it is a fact that she is more socially liberal than Obama? I think there is a clear distinction, just look at that radical church he belonged to. And, why did he wait to the end of the primary to even bother with gays? What we are seeing now is very consistent with what we say during the campaign, he avoids us like the plague.
No Homophobama
Obama bigot needs to put down the power crack pipe. Big. Homophobe. Obama. Nuff’ said.
No Homophobama
@galefan2004
I cannot wait until your unemployment benefits run out and you have something better to do than troll this website all day long.
InExile
@Bill Perdue: Oh, and one more point if Hillary belonged to such a crazy secretive church don’t you think the media would have exposed that? The media attacked her every chance they got while giving their savior a pass, so why would they pass up a chance to expose her secret radical church?
InExile
@SM: They are missing LEADERSHIP from our President, so exactly what is your point? I write congress all the time and call but nothing changes. WITHOUT ANY LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP, WE ARE SUNK!
M Shane
No. 29 · InExile ; The Contitution of the U.S. is writen around the premise that we are a Republic and that there is a “separation of powers” to asure that no one branch eould act in isolation and create a dictatorship of some kind (even of the people).
Over the past 60-100 years and mostly as of the past few administrations an unwise and unwaranted amount of power has been stollen by the Adminisztration which occured with Bush to criminal proportions . Indeed, much was in place for a dictatorship.
Obama’s assertion from the beginning has been that he will will return power where it belongs even though it makes him weaker. It is a belief in our system of government and trust that the founders knew as much about the dangers of power as anyone.
SM
Everyone needs to start calling their Senators on the Hate Crimes Bill from Now until tomorrow at 5.
If you don’t call both your Senators, don’t complain.
InExile
@M Shane: It’s Constitution and I am referring to something like a speech calling on Congress to take action, not unilateral action by him. With no “public” speech asking congress to act, there is no leadership. private speeches at cocktail parties with only gays present and no mainstream media coverage does not count. For congress to act, he has to make it clear to them publicly what he wants legislation on, not innuendo0, and not just words written on a website by staffers.
Bush like it or not showed true leadership and got his policies passed.
InExile
@InExile: I’m not picking on your spelling, I just misspelled innuendo.
SM
@InExile:
You are dellusional.
Obama is 1000x the leader Bush is. You just want him to be a dictator and to forget the ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS LIKE BUSH DID.
People hated Bush because Bush ignored the Constitution, Laws and did whatever he wanted. You praise Bush and bash Obama because Obama goes back to the Democratic Process.
I see…act like Bush when it suits your agenda. GOT IT
InExile
@SM: I would like to see a speech on gay rights similar to the one he gave on racism. Not speaking out publicly to show leadership is not helping. In fact, I would say we have a leadership vacuum right now and that is our problem. Kind of difficult to speak out in favor of LGBT equality and pander to the religious right at the same time huh?
InExile
@InExile: I AM NOT ADVOCATING UNILATERAL ACTION, I AM REFERRING TO SHOWING A LITTLE LEADERSHIP.
Bill Perdue
@InExile: @InExile: Mother Jones is part of the media. They did attack her. I suppose if you did’t see it on Faux News then it didn’t happen. Is that it?
BTW, you did know that Rupert Murdoch, owner of Faux News and the man who put the neo in neo-Nazi was a big and early supporter of Hillary Clinton. Or is it sexist to mention that.
What does socially liberal mean? It means nothing. I’m sure Obamas very personable too. Even considering things like that is the lollipop approach to politics. I hope lollipop is not too sexist a term for you.
And finally, christers are crazy but not secretive. If you’re able, read the damn article before making a fool of yourself.
Ignorance is dumb.
InExile
@Bill Perdue: Say what you want, we would have been light years ahead with Hillary. This guy has no LEADERSHIP experience and it shows! Being all things to all people is not leadership.
InExile
@Bill Perdue: Oh, and don’t watch Faux News.
RG
The very, very least Obama could do is issue an executive stop-loss order so that no more gays are booted out of the armed forces just for acknowledging being gay. He should have done that right away, as soon as he issued the orders to shut down GITMO.
After that, if he wants to let it all sort out through congress or whatever, that’s up to him and we can think what we want about that.
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dontblamemeivotedforhillary
Is this a banana joke because it’s not funny? Neither is being a second class citizen in a third world country (typed in the year 2012 using my eyeballs)