A Well-Deserved Appointment

by on

The Senate has confirmed the former Log Cabin Republicans chief as assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs. The vote had been held up nearly a full year by Democrats.

5 Comments for “A Well-Deserved Appointment”

  1. posted by Mike King & David “TJ” Bauler on

    I would be curious to know what magical things this homocon guy did to lift the ban on gays in the military? When one man says that he is instrumental in getting rid of a decades-old policy, I have to pull out the ‘smell test’ device. I doubt this passes the smell test.

    The likely reality is that Democrats and Republicans and probably some third party types were an important part of the effort. This one homocon probably — Ill be kind — did some good work. Does that mean he single-handily saved the day? Nope.

    Yes, the LCR did a lawsuit against the ban, but that was probably never going to go far with the courts. It was gonna have to get fixed by Congress and the President.

  2. posted by Jorge on

    I would be curious to know what magical things this homocon guy did to lift the ban on gays in the military?

    It’s not that difficult to figure out.

    The leadership of the then-Democratic controlled Senate refused to put up Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell up for a vote during the lame duck session before Republicans took over the Senate. When this happened…

    1) The Log Cabin Republicans, headed by the guy with the initial for a first name, lobbied and shamed the Senate to bring the repeal bill up for a vote.

    This was successful because…

    a) The LCR’s direct clout crossed party lines–Democrats’ second in command Chuck Schumer being a overall moderate and bipartisan–and that is why Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid relented and brought the bill to a vote.

    b) The LCR’s campaign was very public within the gay activist community and other activist organizations were unable to rebut their argument that Democrats were to blame. Therefore the left-leaning activist organizations put their own pressure on Senate Democrats that this was the last chance before Republicans took over the Senate and Democrats better show they really support gays. Thus it was the LCR’s indirect clout that carried the day.

    Somewhere within here is the truth.

    • posted by JohnInCA on

      You’re not wrong, but there’s some key context you’re missing.

      First-up, Democrats did pass a DADT repeal bill in the House, as part of the Defense Re-Authorization bill. It was filibustered in the Senate by John McCain. Another attempt to pass it as part of the Defense Re-Authorization bill was also met by a Republican-led filibuster.

      So sure. The final bill that did end up passing was in the lame-duck session… after Republican efforts to stop it for months. And when the stand-alone bill did finally pass, every single nay was Republican.

      That said, if your big bragging point is that you successfully lobbied your political opponents to pass legislation (that they’d been trying to pass for months) before your own party (who would never pass it) took the majority, isn’t that admitting that you don’t have any real influence in your own party?

  3. posted by Jorge on

    I would be curious to know what magical things this homocon guy did to lift the ban on gays in the military?

    It’s not that difficult to figure out.

    The leadership of the then-Democratic controlled Senate refused to put up Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell up for a vote during the lame duck session before Republicans took over the Senate. When this happened…

    1) The Log Cabin Republicans, headed by the guy with the initial for a first name, lobbied and shamed the Senate to bring the repeal bill up for a vote.

    This was successful because…

    a) The LCR’s direct clout crossed party lines–Democrats’ second in command Chuck Schumer being a overall moderate and bipartisan–and that is why Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid relented and brought the bill to a vote.

    b) The LCR’s campaign was very public within the gay activist community and other activist organizations were unable to rebut their argument that Democrats were to blame. Therefore the left-leaning activist organizations put their own pressure on Senate Democrats that this was the last chance before Republicans took over the Senate and Democrats better show they really support gays. Thus it was the LCR’s indirect clout that carried the day.

    Somewhere within here is the truth.

  4. posted by JohnInCA on

    You’re not wrong, but there’s some key context you’re missing.

    First-up, Democrats did pass a DADT repeal bill in the House, as part of the Defense Re-Authorization bill. It was filibustered in the Senate by John McCain. Another attempt to pass it as part of the Defense Re-Authorization bill was also met by a Republican-led filibuster.

    So sure. The final bill that did end up passing was in the lame-duck session… after Republican efforts to stop it for months. And when the stand-alone bill did finally pass, every single nay was Republican.

    That said, if your big bragging point is that you successfully lobbied your political opponents to pass legislation (that they’d been trying to pass for months) before your own party (who would never pass it) took the majority, isn’t that admitting that you don’t have any real influence in your own party?

Comments are closed.