Posted on 09/21/2010 4:01:50 PM PDT by Michael Eden
When I heard that the Democrat leadership was playing politics by inserting the amnesty-granting DREAM Act into a bill ostensibly to fund our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, I hoped Republicans would block it. So you can only imagine how I felt when I learned that the Democrats decided they weren't being ideological enough in their partisan politics, and added a provision forcing the military to embrace homosexuality whether it hurt national security or not.
What Democrats wanted to do was force Republicans to either vote for the bill, or be the side that "opposed funding our troops."
And the fact that Democrats started a game of political chicken with our troops' lives would get conveniently overlooked by the mainstream leftwing media.
Thank God, our Republican Party stood up to this vile game and said no to frankly vile measures that had nothing to do with troop funding.
Republicans block bill to lift military gay ban By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer Anne Flaherty, Associated Press WriterYou read it right. The intellectual and moral power behind the Democrat Party is Lady Gaga. The Democrat Party reached the sewer, and just kept right on digging.WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort by Democrats and the White House to lift the ban on gays from serving openly in the military, voting unanimously against advancing a major defense policy bill that included the provision.
The mostly partisan vote dealt a major blow to gay rights groups who saw the legislation as their best hope, at least in the short term, for repeal of the 17-year-old law known as "don't ask, don't tell."
If Democrats lose seats in the upcoming congressional elections this fall, as many expect, repealing the ban could prove even more difficult — if not impossible — next year. The Senate could take up the measure again during a lame-duck session after the elections, but a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hasn't decided whether to do so. "The whole thing is a political train wreck," said Richard Socarides, a White House adviser on gay rights during the Clinton administration.
Democrats included the repeal provision in a $726 billion defense policy bill, which authorizes a pay raise for the troops among other popular programs. In a deal brokered with the White House, the measure would have overturned the 1993 law banning openly gay service only after a Pentagon review and certification from the president that lifting the ban wouldn't hurt troop morale.
But with little time left for debate before the November ballot, the bill had languished on the Senate calendar until gay rights groups, backed by pop star Lady Gaga, began an aggressive push to turn it into an election issue.
Reid agreed to force a vote on the bill this week and limit debate, despite Republican objections. A Nevada Democrat in a tight race of his own this fall, he also pledged to use the defense bill as a vehicle for an immigration proposal that would enable young people to qualify for U.S. citizenship if they joined the military.
Republicans alleged that Reid was using the defense bill to score political points with the Democratic base. "This is not a serious exercise. It's a show," said Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
I don't doubt for a second that Republicans have done this themselves in the past. But it is vile. And it is the kind of thing that any party that is worthy of the title "reformers" will pledge to stop doing and then never do again.
The funding for our soldiers - and most especially during time of war - should be off-limits to anyone who would politicize it. Because every time a soldier is wounded or killed in action, he is wounded and killed for every American; not merely Democrats or Republicans.
And our politicians damn well better start respecting that.
You want your 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repeal? Then have the simple integrity to vote for it straight up. Because otherwise, you are nothing more than an evil, vile weasel. And the same thing applies with leftwing OR rightwing immigration proposals.
Both Democrat proposals would transform our society. And to try to sneak them through under the guise of supporting our soldiers is undemocratic and in fact un-American.
I think part of the credit should also go to O’Donnell for picking off Castle. It sent a clear message to the RINO GOP Senators, “you can be next”.
Yes, yes... and YES!
I’m sorry, Mr. Eden, you don’t understand. The GOP is absolutely no good and never has been any good. That is the rule around here, regardless of history, regardless of who holds office presently and regardless of this vote. The rule on FR is “Thou shalt not praise Republicans.”
Unless they are libertarian/tea party/right wingers who run as Republicans.
Let's inject some truth into this debate and tell it like it is: Dems have no qualms about defunding our troops by making our military a social, sexual experiment; and piggy-backing an amnesty bill on as well which has NOTHING to do with military funding. DemocRats are, and forever will be, despicable vermin.
Thank goodness they are reading the Tea Leaves...
Lady Gaga must be writing the platform of the Democrat party.
I’m sorry, Mr. Eden, you don’t understand. The GOP is absolutely no good and never has been any good.
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Yes, yes, you are right. I forgot.
Better that Obama, Pelosi and Reid reign over us for years so that they can usher in their glorious Utopia than that the only meaningful opposition be allowed to govern.
I’ve always thought in terms of making the Republican Party better from within, and then voting for the most conservative candidates.
I have also always thought that the Republican Party sucked; unless you compared them to Democrats. But if you don’t compare them to Democrats, you aren’t living in the real world.
Those who dream of a “third party” should also dream of a liberal Utopia; because that’s all they will ever help create.
The Reps could not have blocked it without the two Dems who voted with them. Murkowski didn’t vote so there were only 40 rep votes.
Lady Gaga must be writing the platform of the Democrat party.
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If Lady Gaga turned the Democrat platform into a song, it would be accompanied by the most disgusting music video ever seen (you know, gay men french kissing, babies being dropped into blenders, that sort of thing).
Michael Savage just said that Collins from Maine voted “NO”. He said that she has gotten the message from her conservatives in Maine.
Let's inject some truth into this debate and tell it like it is: Dems have no qualms about defunding our troops by making our military a social, sexual experiment; and piggy-backing an amnesty bill on as well which has NOTHING to do with military funding. DemocRats are, and forever will be, despicable vermin. ---------------------------------------
They're vermin and so much more -- they are the enemy within.
They're a menace to our nation and damn near everyone living here.
Excellent statement, Mr. Eden, with which I agree.
I understand being disappointed with the GOP. I see them stumbling over one another to grovel at the feet of the Tea Party, only to be kicked in the head.
Naive? Weak? I don't know, but I wish they would wise up. So far, Murkowski's the only one standing up to "Tea Party" and SHE is being kicked by GOP.
It's a horrible spectacle.
Take a look at post #13.
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