30 November 2007

Buchanan & DADT: it must have been a joke....

Pat Buchanan accused Brigadier Gen. Keith Kerr of lacking courage by his question at the Republican CNN/youtube debate the other night - Pat Buchanan: Retired gay Brigadier General lacked 'courage' for not coming out sooner. He had to have been making a funny.

Buchanan is adamant about upholding the law of the land, and Don't Ask Don't Tell is the law of the land.

The general swore an oath -
"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God." Oaths of Enlistment and Oaths of Office

In Buchanan's own words:
"When the general did not identify himself as a fierce partisan of Hillary Rodham Clinton and presented himself simply as a military man who had served and who was gay, and who obviously did not have the courage, frankly, when he was in the military to come out of the closet and say 'I'm gay,' and to attack the Republicans for lacking the courage to take a position he was unable to take; I think makes him look rather bad."

It's a joke. Right?

Is Mr. Buchanan saying that Brig. General Kerr should have broken the law? Just the name DADT - Don't Ask Don't Tell - explains the law clearly.

The true courage that Gen. Kerr showed is in following the law against his own personal convictions. I'm sure to be a brigadier general one must have more than average intelligence, shown exemplary actions in the line of duty, and acted respectfully of both his/her oath of office and the Constitution.

Is Buchanan talking out of both sides of his mouth - at the same time?

just asking...

oh, and the NYT today has a story entitled A New Push to Roll Back ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’.
Marking the 14th anniversary of legislation that allowed gay men and lesbians to serve in the military but only if they kept their orientation secret, 28 retired generals and admirals plan to release a letter on Friday urging Congress to repeal the 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 NYT even has a graphic showing that LGBT men and women are abiding by the law in following it and staying in the Armed Services against their own personal convictions in order to support and defend the Constitution of the United States:

DADT military chart.jpg


Is Mr. Buchanan going to say that these 28 retired generals not coming forward while they were in service showed lack of courage also? After all, they too were upholding the law of the land by supporting the DADT when they were on active duty. It can't be because they were all gay. The leading member of the group is Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Wait! Again, I'm sorry. I forgot that Gen. Shalikashvili is an immigrant from the Georgian region of Russia. Mr. Buchanan's new book, Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart talks at length about how the polyglot and the opening of U.S. borders are helping to diminish and disassemble this great nation of... immigrants. That must be part of problem. He's actually one of those liberal, secular Europeans. That's it. Those people accept everyone and go against everything that is traditionally American. You know - disenfranchisement, bigotry, christianism, unacceptance. We've fought wars to protect these things.

oh, wait, again. So did General Shalikashvili and the other generals and admirals. Even if they didn't support those kinds of beliefs, because they believed you had the right to have them.

duh! Mr. Buchanan, you're an immigrant too, and as my grandfather would say from pig-shit Irish. He knew. He was one. My grandmother, on the other hand was lace curtain Irish. With my mother's family being Italian after being exiled from Albania 500-600 years ago due to the Ottoman Empire's Islamic horde invading the enitre Adriatic area, I come from the best of both worlds, actually all worlds.

and I'll tell...

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