REPUBLICANS NEVER HAVE TO LOOK FAR FOR SCAPEGOATS-- MIRRORS CAN BE HELPFUL

One of the highlights of Wednesday's Republican debate-- maybe second only to the Giuliani/Romney cat fight over immigration-- was the appearance of Brig. General Keith Kerr (ret.). Predictably ultra right-wing and ultra corrupt San Diego area Congressman Duncan Hunter gave the most bigoted answer which probably insulted tens of thousands of American servicemen and women. Flip Flop Mitt, who in 1994, as closeted moderator Anderson Cooper pointed out, said that he looked forward to the day when gays and lesbians could serve in "openly and honestly in our nation's military." Romney tried weaseling out of that just like he tried weaseling out of everything he's ever done in his whole principleless career. He tap danced around a bit and finally, after being booed, said he'd let the people in the military decide, a typical Romney cop out. McCain joined him in saying he just wants to do what the military wants.

Last January General John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997 (which was when "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" first went into effect) penned an electrifying editorial in the NY Times. He unambiguously called for the scrapping of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

When I was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I supported the current policy because I believed that implementing a change in the rules at that time would have been too burdensome for our troops and commanders. I still believe that to have been true. The concern among many in the military was that given the long-standing view that homosexuality was incompatible with service, letting people who were openly gay serve would lower morale, harm recruitment and undermine unit cohesion.

In the early 1990s, large numbers of military personnel were opposed to letting openly gay men and lesbians serve. President Bill Clinton, who promised to lift the ban during his campaign, was overwhelmed by the strength of the opposition, which threatened to overturn any executive action he might take. The compromise that came to be known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” was thus a useful speed bump that allowed temperatures to cool for a period of time while the culture continued to evolve.

The question before us now is whether enough time has gone by to give this policy serious reconsideration. Much evidence suggests that it has.

Last year I held a number of meetings with gay soldiers and marines, including some with combat experience in Iraq, and an openly gay senior sailor who was serving effectively as a member of a nuclear submarine crew. These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers.

This perception is supported by a new Zogby poll of more than 500 service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, three quarters of whom said they were comfortable interacting with gay people. And 24 foreign nations, including Israel, Britain and other allies in the fight against terrorism, let gays serve openly, with none reporting morale or recruitment problems.

I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces. Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.

This isn't what homophobic bigots like Hunter and Tancredo or those cravenly catering to them like McCain and Romney want to hear. But today, on the 14th anniversary of the flawed policy, they will hear a lot more of it. According to today's Times 28 retired generals and admirals sent Congress a letter urging them to repeal the disgraceful law.

“We respectfully urge Congress to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” the letter says. “Those of us signing this letter have dedicated our lives to defending the rights of our citizens to believe whatever they wish.”

The retired officers offer data showing that 65,000 gay men and lesbians now serve in the American armed forces and that there are more than one million gay veterans.

“They have served our nation honorably,” the letter states.

...Few issues have split the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates this year as clearly as whether to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

At a debate in June, all of the Democratic candidates said they favored rescinding the policy. The Republican candidates, meanwhile, have favored continuing it, saying that it is a sensible approach or that it would be a distraction to integrate openly gay service members into the armed forces at a time of war.

Efforts to prompt the House and Senate to repeal the legislation have gained little traction. Senior leaders at the Pentagon are on the record as saying the Department of Defense will follow the lead of Congress.

“Personal opinion really doesn’t have a place here,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in March. “What’s important is that we have a law.”

Sounds like a dodge from the very people weak non-leaders like Romney and McCain are counting on to help them dodge the bullet. Or bullets-- one from an increasing number of Americans fed up with narrow-minded and senseless Republican bigotry, and one from the narrow-minded Republican bigots who define their pathetic selves by who they hate.