Joe Sestak has become a new celebrity over at Gay Patriot. Latest Patriot entry defers to a WSJ article which points out the obvious criminality of the whole incident involving the white house.
Now here is where I think the Patriots have become so disingenuous with their readers, they claim that Obama is doing politics as usual and that people voted for him because he was in essence the change from that. It is obviously clear that Obama is not unique to this dirty dancing, in fact he has been doing this all the way back as state senator in Illinois. So, no I'm not surprised, nor would I be shocked if a Republican administration were to do the same exact thing either (and if that were the case, than of course our fellow patriots wont call it criminal, but rather a tragedy just like Jack Abermoff's run in with racketeering and fraud charges.)
I do believe however that if there was any wrongdoing committed by the Obama White House or better yet with Bill Clinton, there should be an independent investigation as soon as possible. But seeing how illusive the Patriots have become, an investigation is not their interest. They are motivated by their own political ideologies, (the same allegations they spout on the liberals) and I have yet to see what the Republican party will actually do to remedy the situation for the good of the nation and the rule of law, not for political expediency. But we all know that the GOP will use this situation to their advantage while ignoring the many times they have used these shady illegal tactics when they were in office as well, bottom line it is sadly a widespread problem on BOTH sides of the isle. That is why I think Republicans will just sleep on this for now and take it out of their bag of tricks come November.
So I will suggest to the Patriots not to hold their breaths on this anymore. No matter how much they seem to care (or pretend to) about this scandal, like many others committed by politicians with R's and D's next to their name, it will ONLY remain a good story for the bloggers and the radio talk shows thanks to a complacent GOP that is after all, much like the beloved Patriot blog, an opportunistic leech.
"Like Bruce, I was surprised at the swiftness of the sudden movement on DADT."
Surprised, how so? Mr. Blatt has always stated that the DNC will do anything to get its base riled up for the upcoming election. And this supposed repeal was in the works for a while, and of course the democrats cannot let the gay establishment down. It is pretty obvious Dan.
"For his first sixteen months in office, President Obama failed to use his executive powers to limit the reach of the ban, making it more difficult to dismiss service members who happen to be gay."
Now this is confusing, (like many gay republicans tend to be) I don't recall any of the patriots actually introducing this scenario as a solution, rather they boost this anecdote not to actually solve the issue, but to blame Obama on how much his "fierce advocacy" has been on the decline (obvious to any gay person) but yet I suspect that if Obama were to outright repeal DADT through executive fiat you bet your ass that our patriot friends would be having a field day and boast how Obama is excreting too much power and overruling the will of the Congress etc...
"Now, all of a sudden, Congress acts."
Well Dan, since you and your patriot friends claim to be all knowing on the constitution, it would be quite embarrassing to educate you on the fact that Congress has the constitutional right to regulate the military at any time. The military is a civilian led institution and it is lead by a civilian administration and conferred upon it powers by a civilian legislative body. As far as the motives are concerned, as already explained, they are not surprising and yes it is political but that is how both sides of the political machine work - political expediency.
"To be sure, I am pleased with this move in the right direction, but troubled by the paucity of debate on the current bill. And concerned that there does not appear to be a timeline for executive action once Congress passes repeal."
Again Dan, you of all people should know that this not necessarily a repeal effort, merely a vote to let the Pentagon decide on its own findings, I do not know why this is difficult (or acting as though it is difficult) for you to understand.
"All that said, what I most wonder about is why, after all this shilly-shallying around, Democrats decided to suddenly, swiftly taken action."
You can't be serious can you Dan? Pretending to be oblivious to the situation is not all flattering to the intelligence that is of course a trade mark of Gay Patriot. Simply put, the dems did it to get the gay vote and support this summer, it is obvious to any third grader ( I hope I do not offend North Dallas Thirty, a patriot who is obsessed with gay libs who, according to him, are sex-driven maniacs who want to lower the age of consent and have sex with kids, kind of makes you think why the overt fetish on this issue). The comments box is filled with juicy debate that of course ends up talking about how liberals are all sex perverts who hate the troops and, very few however show little or no sympathy to all the gay service members who fight over seas knowing full well that they don't have to and in fact are discouraged to serve because of their sexual orientation, and let me be clear to the "patriots:" and ONLY because of their orientation. Many of these troops are medics, technicians and translators. What is missing from this political partisan debate is that these troops are volunteers, and have joined our military to improve their careers, get some education and yes in the end fight for our country and defeat the bad guys. Let it be known that their service is of great and important need, and that gay service members are not asking for special accommodations like many of our patriots seem to claim. They simply want to continue serving and do it to the best of their ability as sworn to do. And lets be honest about this point - the military needs our gay soldiers more than they need them.
And no, I'm not pretending to be confused to make some cheap political points. The view up here it is pretty clear to me.