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Palin Says Congress Should Not Repeal DADT ‘Right Now’

By Igor Volsky on Feb 7, 2010 at 12:07 pm

During her first appearance on Fox News Sunday, Sarah Palin criticized President Obama for calling for an end to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in his State of the Union address, but did not defend the policy. “There are other things to be worried about right now with the military. I think that kind of on the back burner, is sufficient for now,” Palin said:

PALIN: I don’t think so right now. I’m surprised that the President spent time on that in his State of the Union speech when he spent only about 9 percent of his time in the State of the Union on national security issues. And I say that because there are other things to be worried about right now with the military. I think that kind of on the back burner, is sufficient for now. To put so much time, and effort, and politics into it, unnecessary.

Watch it:

Palin suggested that the policy is working without adopting a more reactionary tone towards gays openly servicing in the armed forces. Unlike her other proclamations, this answer sounded almost reasonable. After all, should the military really alter DADT during a time of war?

It should. It’s particularly during times of war, when the military is stretched thin and is asking its members to fight for freedoms in distant lands that it should grant all of its soldiers the right to be who they are. But the argument against change during wartime also doesn’t work because “there is no end in sight to the war on terror” and endless war cannot be a reason for “permanent stasis in military policy.”

In fact, as historian Mary L. Dudziak points out, wartime has actually “the context for the expansion of equality rights” within the military and civil society. President Truman desegregated the military in the context (and largely because of) the Korean War. Congress passed ‘The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act’ — granting women permanent status in the Regular and Reserve forces of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and the Air Force — in 1948, and President Johnson signed sweeping Civil Rights legislation during the conflict in Vietnam.

Yglesias

Payton Manning Won My Heart

By Matthew Yglesias on Feb 7, 2010 at 11:26 am

I’m by nature a hater, and for a long time I begrudged Payton Manning his successes. But I have to say that over the years he’s won me over with his comedic acting in his endorsement spots. I particularly liked the one where he was cheering for the guy bagging groceries.

Politics

Palin: Obama could win reelection if he ‘played the war card’ and declared ‘war on Iran.’

By Andrea Nill Sanchez on Feb 7, 2010 at 10:45 am

This morning on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace conducted a 25-minute interview with Sarah Palin, a paid contributor to Fox News. Palin told Wallace that she doesn’t think President Obama will win reelection in 2012 if he “continues on the path he has America on.” However, Palin indicated that his chances of winning would dramatically change if Obama simply declared war on Iran:

WALLACE: How hard do you think President Obama would be to defeat in 2012?

PALIN: It depends on a few things, say he played — I got this from Buchanan — say he played the war card. Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decide to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel–which I would like him to do. That changes the dynamics of what we can assume will happen between now and three years. Because I think if the election were today, Obama would not be elected.

WALLACE: You’re not suggesting that Obama would cynically play the war card?

PALIN: I’m not suggesting that, I’m saying if he did, things would dramatically change if he decided to toughen up and do all that he can to secure our nation and secure our allies. I think people would shift their thinking a bit.

Watch it:

Palin appears to be fine-tuning her position on Iran. Late last year, Palin mistook Iraq for Iran when she suggested that the U.S. has to crack down on Iraq to prevent nuclear war in Iran. In 2008, Palin appeared to claim that the U.S. needs to “win” the non-existent war with Iran. During her interview with Wallace, Palin also confirmed that she would consider running for President in 2012 and that it would be “absurd” not to.

Yglesias

The American Action Network’s Wall Street Ties

By Matthew Yglesias on Feb 7, 2010 at 10:00 am

One used to normally here CAP and CAPAF described as a progressive answer to the Heritage Foundation. So when I heard that a new outfit called the American Action Network is supposed to be a conservative answer to CAP/AF I was a bit puzzled. The added wrinkle that the group is planning to take advantage of the Citizens United decision to become some kind of funnel for corporate money directly into the political process does add some useful context. And my colleague Victor Zapanta observes that it looks to be specifically financial industry money that’s going to have the inside track here.

Security

Fox News Military Analyst Endorses DADT Repeal, Criticizes McCain For Flip-Flopping

By Faiz Shakir on Feb 7, 2010 at 9:48 am

This morning, Fox & Friends Weekend hosted Col. David Hunt, a Fox News military analyst, to discuss whether to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

According to his bio on the Fox News website, Hunt is a retired colonel with “over 29 years of military experience including extensive operational experience in special operations, counter terrorism and intelligence operations.” Hunt generally adheres to the conservative line on national security matters. For instance, he was an advocate for attacking Iraq. And instead of encouraging dialogue with Iran and Syria, Hunt said in 2006, “I think we can talk to them when we line them up and kill them.”

This morning, however, Hunt sided with progressives who are advocating repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Hunt called the discriminatory law “an abject failure” because “we’ve lost somewhere between 11 and 14,000 soldiers.” He continued:

Being brave in the battlefield has nothing to do with how you go to the bathroom or how you have sex. … If you volunteer to serve this great country, we should welcome you, not push you away because of some arcane attitude about sex.

Even Fox host Clayton Morris agreed. “Yeah, it’s like a civil rights issue. I find it absolutely absurd,” Morris said. Then Morris and Hunt took a swipe at Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who claims to heed the views of military leaders (except those with whom he disagrees):

MORRIS: On the campaign trail, then-Sen. John McCain said, look, when I hear from the military brass that they want to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, I’ll get right in line with them. That’s what happened — we heard from Admiral Mullen, we heard from Defense Secretary Gates. … Why is John McCain flip-flopping here?

HUNT: It’s just too damn convenient for McCain to be doing this. … He’s just wrong on this. We’re in a war. We’ve got guys deployed for 8 years in Afghanistan, almost 7 years in Iraq. And somebody says, I want to serve this country. And McCain wants to say, if you’re homosexual, you can’t serve. It’s wrong. We need these kind of people. We need all of them.

Hunt said that the repeal of DADT won’t be “easily accepted” by the military because “it’s a conservative organization,” but it’s still the right thing to do in the long-run. Watch it:

Over the past few days, Fox has given ample airtime to those who defend DADT. Bill Kristol called it a “success.” Ollie North derided repeal as a harmful “social experiment.” Bill O’Reilly opposed repeal because “it’s a morale issue.”

A review of Fox News shows over the past month indicates that Hunt – generally, a regular contributor on Fox News – had not been called upon prior to this morning to offer his views on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Will Hunt be invited on other Fox News shows to discuss his views?

Yglesias

Answering the Shelby Shakedown

By Matthew Yglesias on Feb 7, 2010 at 8:31 am

File-Richard_Shelby_official_portrait

I’ve had a few opportunities to mention the “Shelby Shakedown” in which Alabama’s less-evil Senator has decided to block confirmation of all seventy pending executive branch nominees—in effect holding the entire federal government hostage—over a few juicy slabs of pork. But what can actually be done about this? Harold Meyerson says it’s recess appointments:

In particular, Obama can do what every one of his recent predecessors has done when their nominees have not been confirmed in the Senate — appoint them for an abbreviated term (good until the next Senate is convened in 2011) when the Senate stands in recess (as it next will over the President’s Day weekend). This procedure, called recess appointment, has been used relatively sparingly in the past because senators were relatively sparing in putting holds on nominees. But if the new normal in the Senate is the omnibus hold, the new normal in the White House should become the omnibus recess appointment.

That works for me. The larger issue, however, is that the confirmation process needs to be overhauled.

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