There was no way that the Senate would have confirmed General Pace for a second time, that was the reality.
I probably shouldn’t make any assumptions, because I don’t know whether General Pace stepped down because he preferred not to be involved in a political food fight, or whether President Bush asked him to step down and Pace agreed.
But in point of fact, what he said in office was perfectly reasonable and easily defensible, and as he pointed out he would take the same measures against public adultery in the military as he would against public homosexuality.
I wonder if the Democrat congress would have been all that happy if they had tried to push this. It was, after all, bill clinton’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that General Pace was enforcing. The Democrats usually win these battles because the Republicans keep backing down, but I doubt if they would have made themselves very popular if Bush had pursued the renomination of a real military hero and they had to explain why they were blocking it. Popular with gays, maybe, but I don’t think with a majority of voters.
Anyway, it’s water over the dam. But people said at the time that the Admiral was a political appointee who was chosen so as not to offend the Democrats, and that now appears to be the case.
But they would confirm a Clintonite.