Colin Powell Backs Repeal of DADT
The general joins the chorus:
“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” General Powell said in a statement issued by his office. He added: “I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen.”
Steve Benen says Powell’s endorsement should help seal the deal:
For those keeping score at home, there are now three chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — the current chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, along with retired Gens. John Shalikashvili and Powell — who agree that it’s time to end this absurd policy. Two of the three were appointed by Republican presidents. They’re joined by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was originally brought on to head the Pentagon by the Bush/Cheney administration.
I’ve never forgiven Powell his comments like this one from the January 25, 1993, Nightline:
JEFF GREENFIELD: [voice-over] Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, flatly rejects any comparison between the racial segregation of the past and the current ban on gays.
Gen. COLIN POWELL: Homosexuality is not a benign sex- benign behavioral characteristic such as skin color or whether you’re Hispanic or Oriental. It goes to one of the most fundamental aspects of human behavior, and I think it does make a difference. I think it’d be very, very difficult to accommodate that into the armed forces.
Maybe now the healing can begin. Comments sure proved that wrong. And not a one makes mention of that old Nightline quote I dug up…
24 Responses to “Colin Powell Backs Repeal of DADT”
Oh, jeez. Sorry, Joe. I should have checked first.
So the Democrats promised to focus laser-like on jobs and not creating dissent trying to ram through legislation to pay off their special interest groups? That didn't last long.
Here's a bit of balance from Vietnam veteran and Professor of Strategy and Force Planning for the Naval War College Mackrubin Thomas Owens.
The Case Against Gays in the Military
Open homosexuality would threaten unit cohesion and military effectiveness
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487…
“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,”
********
Since then, we've learned that cohabitating hetero enlisted don't mind having coed shower and dressing situations where at “outed” gay person would cause them discomfort if they expected them to be leering at them. If the DADT is repealed, men may take showers with women and share the same barracks. Saying men have less self-control in the showers with women GIs than lesbians is descriminatory against men.
We hold different positions on the issue, but solely as an item of political calculation, I, too, am surprised that Obama wants to wade into this at this point in time.
It is, at worst, cynically throwing another divisive topic at an already divided country and at best, a distraction from some fundamental economic survival issues……..then again, perhaps the operative word being distraction.
“So the Democrats promised to focus laser-like on jobs and not creating dissent trying to ram through legislation to pay off their special interest groups? That didn't last long.”
“I, too, am surprised that Obama wants to wade into this at this point in time.”
To me the question isn't so much the “what.” It was an easy mark to pick off, presumably, just as it was in his speech — it's no big deal, a minute and even trivial special-interest sop that (despite some objections, as we see here) probably doesn't bother most people. It would have been a piece of progress and a special-interest issue to check off the list, to be left behind, finally.
But the “how” is, well, clumsy again. Why pull the Pentagon in it and turn it into a nation-wide spectacle it never should have been? Fools. Why didn't Congress just repeal the law, and be done with it?
Fools.
“perhaps the operative word being distraction”
Well, that budget Obama presented really is alarming (not merely disappointing).
But it may not have been a distraction in that sense, but in being scatter-brained and inept, stumbling too heavily over this issue rather than the budget. Maybe.
It's not as if they chose a distraction like health care legislation, or — even entitlement reform. [gasp]
Ya gotta love those characterizations. It's no different than pretending healthcare reform is some sudden new thing. It goes back years and years. Some folks are just looking for an excuse to use the word no again.
Perhaps avoid mention of 'healthcare reform' tiger. It's not Obama's strong suit at the moment. Especially in the ram it through context.
No Pink Tutu Military.
Never.
A good general adapts his tactics to the condtions on the battlefield. The conditions on the battlefield of gays in the military have changed, and Powell has adapted to the new conditions. Evidence of not only a good general, but an open mind. Salute.
No, Powel is a dummy.
Being the propaganda dupe for the Dubya administration proves it.
I agree with Powell the time has come to let gays serve openly in the miltary.
As far as the timing, this is Obama throwing a bone to the party faithful at a time when some are unhappy with him. GWB would do the same thing occasionally.
Since you bring up healthcare (which I think we've covered pretty thoroughly in other threads) here's an Interesting article about why people sometimes vote against their own interests. I'm rarely surprised by the phenomenon anymore, I've seen it go on for decades now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8474611.stm
As for Powell, he is of course right about this, and I think he has a better basis for his opinion than most people here. His political capital isn't what it once was though. I mean he could have been president at one time if he'd wanted the job.
Gotta love that characterization “voting against their own interests.” It's a great way to rationalize opposition to your policies.
And it forms a matched set with liberals' other accusation, that conservatives vote precisely in their own interest and don't care about others.
Hello? Handing a sixth of the economy, and all of our health, to a demonstrably incompetent government is not in my interest. Nor yours.
Bone to the party faithful? Not like they have a choice. Not like there are enough of them to make any national or even state election difference anyway. The largest concentration in the country has got to be California and they lost big there.
Ha ha, they should be politically ignored. There are more pool life guards than these sexual sickos.
Then chage the government to a competent government like Finland, or, Norway, or, Switzerland.
Talk is cheap and anybody can complain. Do something pundit.
It's appalling to me that such rubbish is routinely served up by academics who not only are certain that they know what is best for us, but even have theories about why we foolishly won't drink the nutritious koolaid they are serving. We actually pay them to teach this tommyrot!
(to be clear, rant directed at BBC article)
Since you bring up healthcare
Twas you brought up healthcare. I suggested you not bring it up. Go munch on a tasty zebra.
Well, the English probably thought King George was good for us too.
Hey Kathy… I know how it is! This can't get too much coverage for my liking.
“This can't get too much coverage for my liking.”
Are you sure about that, Joe? Not that we have the customary multiplicity of threads on such a subject; that was predictable. But rather, are you sure you want “coverage” in the form of our fine friends in DC doing such a great job of this issue, right now, as great as they were with health care “reform” previously, it seems? (Nothing like ineptitude, excess, and needless controversy.)
Wow, you sure can't please everybody eh! There sure seems to be a certain resistance to learning, to evolving in some circles. Ya know, sometimes when people get touchy about stuff it means they aren't getting enough sleep or something. Other times it means a nerve is being hit. Seems like a lot of nerves are being hit in TMV lately. I think some folks just naturally get left behind when progress comes along because they can't figure it out, but this is hardly a new issue. Be glad there are people with enough courage and vision to not be as complacent about it staying on the backburner indefinitely… as you are.
JSpencer, “Ya know, sometimes when people get touchy about stuff it means they aren't getting enough sleep or something. Other times it means a nerve is being hit. Seems like a lot of nerves are being hit in TMV lately.”
You do bring up an excellent point. Frankly I think there are a lot of nerves being hit in this country, not just TMV. And I think that's because people are uncertain, insecure about their future in these times.
However it takes real leaders to have the courage to ensure *all* Americans are treated fairly, rather than faux-leaders who pander to citizens' baser emotions.
Yup, and those real leaders are always going to be taking flak for not caving to that baser element too.