Posted on 12/20/2010 3:10:19 PM PST by roses of sharon
Jonathan Bernstein makes an excellent point about the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell:
[T]his issue will now promptly go away, entirely. Oh, we'll have a bit of reporting on implementation, but seriously: does anyone think that Republicans are going to run in 2012 on re-instating DADT? Or, even less plausibly, on re-instating the ban that DADT replaced? Forget it. It's possible to believe that a DADT vote could be used in a GOP primary down the road, but it's utterly implausible to believe that the policy would ever be revived, no matter what happens in the 2012 (or any future cycle) elections.
With the possible exception of John McCain, pretty much every conservative knew they were going to lose this argument eventually. And many of them know they're going to lose the argument on marriage equality, too. As Jon Chait asks, "it was only six years ago that Republicans used the bogeyman of gay marriage to help win a presidential election. Does anybody expect that to happen again?"
Outside of some local issues and races in the South, we've reached a point where The Gay Menace just doesn't have much political potency anymore. Not that that means the culture war will disappear and all we'll talk about is economics forevermore. We've still got the anti-Muslim culture war (Rep. Peter King, the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, will be holding hearings on the threat posed by American Muslims, which should be a veritable hate-apalooza). And there's always the War On Secularism. Truth is, the culture war never ends, it just shifts its focus. A hundred years from now, we'll be arguing about whether advocates of the Robot Citizenship Act of 2111 hate God and America and everything we believe in.
But it's never bad to remind ourselves that with the important exception of abortion rights, the culture war moves in only one direction, and that direction is the one progressives want. In all of the spheres the culture war touches on, we're a more progressive country than we used to be. Gay people can serve in the military, women can own property, beating children is generally frowned-upon, and so on. You can say that's simply the march of modernity, but whatever you want to call it, it's a long line of victories for progressives values.
And as a bonus to the weekend's developments, this group of bigots need never be heard from again.
-- Paul Waldman
We gave them all of Academia, the News Media, and Hollywood. (no Conservative in their right mind would do entertainment TV..it is beneath us!)
The Military fell this weekend...next, the rest of the Churches.
True. Just follow the dots.
The fags will weed themselves out after the next terrorist attack. They’ll start their “I don’t believe in war” bull**** and refuse to go to war. The taxpayers will then forget about that “born that way” bull**** and ask why they were in the military in the first place.
The left won decades ago...that’s why we are circling the drain now. It’s still cute to watch conservatives celebrate small battle victories, this election cycle being a good example. Hope springs eternal but keep your powder dry.
every time someone holds their nose and votes for the lesser of two evils, the line is nudged a little more.
Every advance of the progressive agenda has instigated misery and decline. Decline in the military warrior culture would generate backlash.
We live in (very) interesting times.
No. What is now required of a new Republican President is a policy of MAMT; Must Ask: Must Tell.
If gays are to serve openly, let them do so. What WON’T work is to have both closeted and un-closeted gays in the service. All must openly profess their sexual “preference” or risk expulsion. There must be a service-wide inventory where ALL are required to provide this information for the record; with failure to comply fully openly and honestly will be grounds for dismissal from the service.
Our fighters HAVE to know who they are fighting alongside.
Idiots.
Secession belongs to a different class of remedies. It is to be justified upon the basis that the States are sovereign. There was a time when none denied it. I hope the time may come again, when a better comprehension of the theory of our Government, and the inalienable rights of the people of the States, will prevent any one from denying that each State is a sovereign, and thus may reclaim the grants which it has made to any agent whomsoever.
-- Jefferson Davis Pres. CSA
Meanwhile, it seems that Sen. Reid may have ignored the leaders of the Marines, Air Force, and Army--but he has no trouble taking orders from Lady Gaga. Moments after the vote, the Majority Leader tweeted the rock star: "@SenatorReid @ladygaga We Did It! ##DADT Is A Thing Of The Past." It's comforting to know that America 's future is in the hands of a Democrat who gets his policy advice from a 24-year-old circus act who wears red meat bikinis.
Make them wear an all brown ribbon.
But I do think the correction that is needed is going to be Biblical and not political. Not that I wish for that but I believe that is coming.
The rights of the many have been trampled once again by the rights of a few. Will the majority of males feel comfortable in gang showers, bathrooms, barracks? Do female heterosexuals shower with male heterosexuals? Do they sleep in the same barracks? Do they use the same bathrooms? This is a dream come true for the left, emasculating the military with a social agenda has just backdoored gay marriage and it will eventually bring it to the supreme court. If they are allowed to fight and die for thier country why then can they not marry. Slick, and our feckless politicains fell for it.
Sorry, what were we talking about?
Indiana ping. Tennessee bound.
and America takes another one in the........
Works for me.
Always waiting for the next election, always waiting for the knight in shining armor (oh, who gets good press too!)
Always waiting for those that we elect (you know, the ones that get good press, yea!)...to do something Conservative, which they never do, BECAUSE IT GETS BAD PRESS!
Always waiting for the media to like us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.