After all the compromising on other issues, the Democrats have finally passed legislation to end the Armed Forces policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." By a vote of 65 to 31, including eight Republicans, the up or down vote passed the Senate and will go to President Obama's desk for his signature.
Finally, an important promise made during his campaign has been kept by President Obama, righting the wrong that was done back under the Clinton Administration that forced gays and lesbians in the services to hide who they are.
For anyone who once respected Senator John McCain, I think his opposition to repealing DADT will be the final straw; his reinvention as a right wing idealogue is complete. From the article linked above:
"Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and his party’s presidential candidate in 2008, led the opposition to the repeal and said the vote was a sad day in history. 'I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage,' Mr. McCain said. 'And we could possibly and probably, as the commandant of the Marine Corps said, and as I have been told by literally thousands of members of the military, harm the battle effectiveness vital to the survival of our young men and women in the military.'"
Needless to say, some day people will look back on that comment and note the absurdity of it, especially since gay and lesbian service members have already been serving honorably in the armed forces all along, side by side with their heterosexual comrades in arms.
Even Joe Lieberman was on the right side of history, voting to repeal the act, and saying:
"'We righted a wrong,' said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the independent from Connecticut who led the effort to end the ban. 'Today we’ve done justice.'"
Of course, the day wasn't all good - the DREAM Act that would have allowed young immigrants to gain a path to citizenship by joining the armed forces or attending college for two years, among other stipulations, was voted down. Despite passing by a majority (55-41), it lacked the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
Something has to be done about the ability of opposition parties to filibuster just by saying they will. But that is a problem for another day.
Today is a day to rejoice.
15 comments:
What is so fun is watching the religious right go nuts. Call the GOP who voted for repeal, traitors and turncoats. Just gotta love that.
As to McCain, that tired old vengeful asshat will just turn to another issue to punish Obama for being elected. Now he's on to Start and trying to derail that. Knowing so much more than a ton of Secty' States, and other Defense Military leaders. He just cannot let it go--losing that is.
Him and Palin have that in common. very thin skinned--which is the way to beat them--keep them angry and they make mistakes.
For anyone who once respected Senator John McCain, I think his opposition to repealing DADT will be the final straw; his reinvention as a right wing idealogue is complete.
It's sad, really. Getting teabagger-challenged during the Republican primary seems to have rattled him, and he's swerved so far to the hard right by now that he can't back down without looking like a flip-flopping panderer.
Although he might well just viscerally dislike gays. People of his generation grew up in a very different world. Some of them never quite left it.
What is so fun is watching the religious right go nuts.
I think I'm going to indulge myself, and drop by a few fundie blogs to gloat.
All I can say is it's about damn time. I was beginning to doubt DADT would be repealed before this Congress left.
This is awesome.
You know, it's ironic as hell. They have no qualms about putting high-powered weapons and ordinance into the hands of 18-25 year olds and teaching them to kill on demand, to suffer deprivation, heat, dust, dirt, mud, cold, disease and chemical weapons. For that, they are supremely qualified, in the eyes of those like McCain.
However, they need to be coddled and petted and protected from the evils of the world - in this case, namely gays.
How f'ing ironic. Republicans think those kids can kill on demand, but think they need to be protected from the possibility that they might have to shower with a gay man/woman.
Honestly, could he possibly be any more backwards in his thinking?? Aren't marines supposed to be able to handle anything? Some of them will prove him right...and most of them will go on business as usual, that DADT will go down in the history books as a long, drawn-out bump in civil liberties in the US.
Woo hoo. Finally.
Some day we will all look back (well, most of us) and wonder--WHAT THE HELL TOOK US SO LONG?
Sources report John McCain is on suicide watch, having tried to leap off the Capitol Rotunda but was stopped by Washington police before he could hoist his ancient bones over the 5th floor railing.
Later, McCain tried to slash his wrists with a plastic knife in the Capitol dining room but he was stopped by Kay Bailey Hutchison who snatched the knife out of his hands just before he sliced an artery.
2010 is ending on a sour note for the Old Coot. He finds himself in a time warp, with a military and a nation having grown and matured leaving him stuck in the 1950's.
When I was younger I really respected McCain but more and more he disgusts me. Conversely Lieberman routinely disgusts me but for once he is on the right side. I have talked to all my sons in the military since and it never came up and I know they could care less but I will see what the poop is.
YAY!
Personally, if we were going to have a win for the LGBT community, I would rather it be nationwide recognition of same sex marriage, not this piecemeal, State by State mess we have going on.
That being said, it is good news that the US military will end the discrimination & requiring people to lie about themselves.
Being a radical liberal, I wish no one was going to war in the fabricated wars we have going on now, so I'm not thrilled that we are celebrating the fact our gay brothers & sisters will be subjected to war.
But less discrimination is better than nothing.
Sorry I can't muster up more enthusiasm.
It was nice to see this finally done. From the comments here, it's clear we have a long way to go, but yes - this is good news.
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SIGNED INTO LAW!!
But please remember that originally DADT was Clinton's compromise with the Pentagon because before DADT people were ASKED. Clinton made recruiters and military instructors stop asking. It was a lousy law and I am glad it is gone, but it was a step in the correct direction.
This lame duck session of Congress has rocked! Repealing DADT, ratifying New START, extending unemployment benefits, an expanded food safety law -- almost everything the Republicans hate got signed into law.
For all the bullying that Democrats have put up with for the past year, the 111th Congress went out with a bang.
Beekeepers - Right on. How utterly ironic in a gruesome, disgusting manner - to send people off to war to defend their country but to demand those same people deny who they are. McCain's viewpoint doesn't say much for the caliber of our fighting troops - that they can be so distracted by the inconsequential. I doubt the existence of the "thousands" he speaks of, frankly. McCain's fear of everything different from him is palpable. It's a deeply ingrained pathology for which there is no cure.
FINALLY......and yeah watching McCain implode this past month just on this really was an eye opener as to how old and decrepid he really is...
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