Well, All That Was Fun, But Here’s Why “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Won’t Happen — Maybe For Years
What do you call a group that uses threats, condones repression, and takes hostages?
After a promise by the President to “work with Congress” to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” after an exhaustive $4.5 million study that was released just yesterday, after DADT was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge months ago, after dozens of high-ranking military leaders, along with dozens of Senators and Congressmen, put their careers on the line to support gay and lesbian soldier who put their lives on the line, here’s why “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will remain law into the next decade of the twenty-first century: the GOP.
Yes, that’s right, the GOP. Specifically, the Republican Senate, all forty-two members who signed a letter stating they will allow no legislation to pass until the Bush tax cuts are extended and the government is funded into the new year.
Via Politico:
“That could imperil a 9/11 first responders bill, an immigration measure known as the DREAM Act, the ratification of a nuclear arms treaty with Russia and a repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell†policy that prohibits gays from serving openly in the military.
“On the floor Wednesday morning, Reid called the GOP tactic “very cynical, but very obvious, [and] very transparent.â€
“With this letter, they have simply put in writing the political strategy that the Republicans pursued this entire Congress, namely, obstruct, delay; obstruct, delay action on critical matters and then blame the Democrats for not addressing the needs of the American people,†he said.”
Civil rights activist and Clinton advisor David Mixner calls it for what it is: pure and simple, plain old “extortion.”
Unsurprisingly, the gay Tea Party group, GOProud supports the Republicans on this. Asking, quite bluntly, “Do Democrats Want Tax Hikes More Than Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?,” GOProud Executive Director and Chief Ann Coulter Sycophant, Jimmy LaSalvia, wrote,
“Senate Republicans are absolutely right. It is time that Democrats in the Senate stop playing political games with our economy. If Democrats are truly interested in getting to other important lame-duck issues, like the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, then they should act immediately to prevent jobs-killing tax increases. The American people are watching, now is the time for Democrats to decide what they want more – tax increases or repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The choice is theirs.â€
So, the GOP is willing to scrap years of work on getting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repealed, countless thousands of hours from our military — including everyone from the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, to a boot camp private who participated in the Pentagon study, millions of dollars, so they can make their rich friends even richer, all while claiming to worry about borrowing for their children’s future?
Make no mistake. As SLDN’s Aubrey Sarvis said yesterday, “We need to get this done in December,†and, “it will be more difficult in the next Congress.†Try, impossible.
The GOP has now gone too far. They are holding America hostage, using the Bush tax cuts — that will cost $700 billion in borrowing, supposedly mortgaging our children’s future, as ransom.
The Washington Monthly adds, “note the context: President Obama hosted a meeting at the White House yesterday with congressional leaders of both parties, and afterwards, everyone was all smiles. There was a renewed commitment to try to work together, find common ground, with an emphasis on bipartisanship.
“A few hours later, the hostage letter was circulated by the GOP leadership, and less than a day after the bipartisan confab, literally every member of the Senate Republican caucus effectively told the world, “Screw bipartisanship; we’re playing hardball until we get what we want on tax cuts for the wealthy.”
What do you call a group that uses threats, condones repression, and takes hostages?
What do you think? Is the GOP is a terrorist group?