From the Huffington Post via numerous friends on Facebook:
GOP vice-presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy should not be reinstated in an interview with West Palm Beach NBC affiliate WPTV that aired on Sunday.
. . . .“I talked to a lot of good friends of mine who are combat leaders in the theater, and they just didn’t think the timing of this was right to do this when our troops were in the middle of harm’s way in combat,” said Ryan. “Now that it’s done, we should not reverse it. I think that would be a step in the wrong direction because people have already disclosed themselves.”
“I think this issue is past us. It’s done. And I think we need to move on,” he said.
More on this as time allows. Good news indeed. To note, this corresponds with what I’ve been hearing from sources closer to the campaign than I.
What’s the good news?
The complete non-event that was the repeal of DADT undermines a lot of Republicans’ (and some Democrats’) credibility as moral, informed political leaders. Paul Ryan just wants to ‘move on.’ In other words, Paul Ryan doesn’t want to take any responsibility for his political philosophy being proved completely wrong. Republicans (and some Democrats) spent years pandering to homophobes and chasing critical personnel out of the military (including Arabic linguists), and don’t even want to admit they were wrong about it. Notice how Ryan absolves himself of responsibility and blames the military? Some leader, this guy!
And in other words, the malicious liar Levi who screamed that Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are out to put all gays in concentration camps and murder them is not willing to admit that he was wrong.
I don’t need you to think or interpret for me, Levi, and that’s exactly what you are trying to do. You and your desperate malicious liars in the Obama Party don’t want gays to think for themselves; you want them to repeat your prejudices and live as your slaves.
No one here seriously believes that an unhinged bigot like you can fairly evaluate Paul Ryan’s speech. You are a desperate Obama shill, out to tell whatever malicious lies you can without any qualms whatsoever to get what you want.
You admitted, Levi, that you and your fellow liberals will lie, cheat, steal, take shortcuts, rip people off, and do whatever you can to get your way. You have acknowledged that if there isn’t a law against it, you will do it, and you don’t care who or what gets hurt in the process as long as you get what you want.
The game is up, filthy liar. You and your fellow Obama liars are exposing yourself more and more every day as insane, unhinged bigots who will do and say anything to get your Obama elected. People have realized that you are dishonest, fundamentally hateful, and bigoted to the core, willing to commit acts of violence if it will force people to do what you want.
Levi: shut up. You’re an idiot.
I have been reading your blog for some time but have never responded ot any of your posts. But I must respond to this one.
Levi: Shut up. You are an idiot.
I routinely hear that the Democrats are ‘leading from behind.’ Well, I can’t think of anything that’s more ‘leading from behind’ than quietly asking that we move on from an issue that was hotly contested by Republicans just a couple of months ago. So quickly do these deeply-held convictions get discarded when the jury is finally in and when people find out how wrong they were.
But whatever! We’re all supposed to cheer on Paul Ryan for his heroic stance of…. sheepishly asking to move on after being proved wrong and blaming the military for his own shortcomings….. Yay Republicans! This is how you get better candidates!
More cutting-and-pasting. Nothing to see here, folks; just move along. It’s our libtroll being himself again.
Regards,
Peter H.
Levi=funny.
Ryan’s position “evolved”. Sound familiar?
Conservatives whose positions “evolve” are “leading from behind”.
Liberals whose positions “evolve” are enlightened individuals with the highest moral standards.
Did I get that right Levi?
That’s not what happened. Somebody else took a stand and made the change, and Ryan opposed it. He didn’t evolve, and if it were up to him it would still be the status quo. Democrats are hypocrites about this stuff, too, and I don’t see courage in their evolution as much as I see political opportunism, but that’s still better than what Ryan did – nothing. Oh wait, he did blame the military!
And again, the lying and malicious hypocrite and bigot Levi demonstrates the double standards at work here.
Brainwashed bigot and idiot Levi can’t do anything but bleat for his Obama. Levi is nothing but a typical sheep, an Obama puppet with no thoughts of his own and with the lack of morals and standards so typical of Obama supporters.
The good thing about scrolling down to read these replies is that I can play “Guess the author from the content.” It never fails with Levi – I have to order a new bullshitometer off the web because the reading goes off scale and the electronics fry within about two sentences; three at most.
“but that’s still better than what Ryan did – nothing. ”
Let me fix that..
but that’s still better than what Obama did – nothing.
It is just one issue that isn’t even important in the least. It has no bearing on anything, particularly when the Senate has been busy not passing any budgets.
So all arab translators are flamboyant gays? Would like to know from our resident troll how many unrepleceable gay arab translators lost their job…
Also what is the use of arab translators when you cannot even prevent the benghazi disaster?
Not even important? One of the biggest problems in American politics is that nobody ever has to take any responsibility for being wrong about stuff (see: the Bush administration). It seems to me that after years of accusing liberals of wanting to compromise military preparedness, of not supporting the troops, and of not taking seriously issues of national security, there ought to be some consequences when they’re proved wrong. Instead, we get a little golf clap for Paul Ryan, who doesn’t even bother taking responsibility for his political positions and instead blames the military for misleading him.
And if that doesn’t appeal to you, maybe the fact that there were more than 10,000 people discharged from the military based on this faulty logic? The government spent all this money paying and training and housing these people, and they got fired because conservatives needed to cater to their homophobic voters. But yeah, no big deal, let’s just shuffle along and all forget who was responsible for what and let bygones be bygones, because that’s how we get better results out of our politics, right?
In order to be a “proper” conservative, Levi insists that Ryan say: “Damn the decisions and the reconfiguration and the policy manual and the rethinking and the accommodating code of conduct and all the rest! Full speed in reverse, damn the poor saps who were hoodwinked and the lynchings begin at sunrise.”
That is the amazing grace of being a liberal. A compromise is always a blot on those who caved. With liberals, it is truly “my way or the highway” because half a loaf is only for losers.
Well, I just read about the plans for a gay condominium. Let’s see, now, how about a gay corps or gay squadrons or a gay special team to kill and maim fundamentalist Muslims?
Do tell, Levi, we are all rapt with your forward perspective on how to mobilize gays, women and transexuals and even those special bi-polar people with Baron von Munchausen’s delusions.
Although you can not explain how gays or women or weak men or the physically disabled or the aged or the obese or illegal aliens or other selected “victims” actually improve the success of the military mission. For you, it all just nose counting and some sort of “fairness” rubric.
I’m not sure what the point of dragging this out further is (or singling this one issue out, when there are many more important issues that Obama has failed to take responsibility for in spite of his responsibility).
Who compromised? Republicans fought the repeal and lost, a good number of Republican presidential candidates vowed to re-institute DADT during primary season, and the most that the Vice Presidential nominee can say is that he was misinformed by the military and that we shouldn’t think about this stuff anymore. Where in this equation did Republicans compromise on anything? When did they cave?
Compromise is for things like tax rates and education budgets and diplomacy. This was stupid, stubborn pandering that wasted time and resources, hurt people, and arguably damaged national security. It ran contrary to American ideals and it was zealously defended by a bunch of know-nothings who made ridiculous prognostications that weren’t even close to accurate. We should take that into account the next time they tell us about all the terrible things that will happen if the liberals get their way.
What is really annoying is Dan’s excitement about all this, as if the Republicans took a great step forward today or did something at all laudable. The Republicans didn’t learn their lesson, and conservatives like Dan patting him on the back isn’t going to help them learn it. Note again that Ryan is too cowardly to mutter a simple, “I was wrong.” He makes an excuse for himself, blames someone else for his endorsement of a homophobic policy, and implores everyone to forget it ever happened. Why applaud that? Why greet that enthusiastically? Why is it good news?
See: Algore’s aviation security and safety panel. Remember that? Neither does anybody else.
Fact, eh? Name them and provide their discharge orders.
Cheers!
You mean instead of looking at the miserable fucktard you voted for? Instead of looking at the tens of millions on welfare and food stamps? Look anywhere else instead of the crimnal, colossal failures liberals drop their drawers and dump all over the American people.
I read somewhere today that the truth is the new hate speech. Levi subscribes to that.
Since Levi has nothing to contribute of any substance (unless you consider narcissistic, hate-filled lefty screeds covered in pixy dust and glitter bombs substance), could we perhaps simply IGNORE him?
Here’s the money shot: Levi and presumably Gay Inc. (since he’s not smart enough to come up with lying points of his own) want us to believe that Ryan blames the military. I’ve read and re-read this article and a few others and can’t figure out what he’s talking about.
The important thing here, however, is that it shows what pathetic liars he and Gay Inc. are.
DADT should never have been implemented in the first place. It always was a bad policy.
I state that as one who is a Catholic and a straight woman.
DADT was extremely messy and if anything it had the effect of leading to compromise.
The reversal of this terrible policy is a good thing in the long run. It should mean that recruiters have the right to not accept recruits for a variety of reasons, other than that of sexual orientation. The fact is that a lot of people are unsuitable for the services and they need to be either not accepted in the first place or drummed out as quickly as possible.
BTW DADT was implemented by a Democrat by the name of Clinton.
I haven’t read anything about this aside from what Dan posted. What I’ve posted are my own words that reflect my own opinions.
This is what Ryan said:
“I talked to a lot of good friends of mine who are combat leaders in the theater, and they just didn’t think the timing of this was right to do this when our troops were in the middle of harm’s way in combat,” said Ryan.
See? It isn’t Paul Ryan’s fault that Paul Ryan opposed the repeal of DADT, he was just going along with what his friends who are combat leaders in the theater were telling him. He never says he was wrong and he subtly implies that his combat leader friends were.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_ask,_don%27t_tell#Discharges_under_DADT
Levi,
Seriously, have you no curiosity?
I went to your Wiki link and I was frankly amazed at the footnotes. The military and the government in general has paid a huge price in time and money trying to fold gays into the military environment. The footnotes demonstrate the battles fought in the courtrooms and sessions of hearings. Reading the footnotes more than demonstrates this. Yet, it appears, a whole lot of gays did not protect themselves sufficiently under DADT.
Let’s take your Wiki reference at face value and accept the numbers they report of people being discharged under DADT.
Is that number up or down when compared with homosexuals being discharged before DADT?
What is the number of total discharges so that we have some sort of idea of whether the DADT discharges are high, average or low compared to the whole discharge record.
Is it fair to assume that those discharged ran afoul of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and placed themselves squarely in the crosshairs of DADT?
You social engineers put the military in this fix. What is your goal? Do you want an openly gay brigade or two to carry out some special military mission?
In the litigious environment you “progressives” have created concerning gays in the military, I am sure we would have seen endless programs on TV if the military were ferreting out gays and discharging them. You guys would feast on that for months.
You are almost one dimensional in your elite purview on such complicated aspects of social engineering. No wonder you are an Obama robot.
For all the men and women that have served under DADT, I thank you. For those that haven’t served and complain. STFU.
It’s time has passed.
Now serve in the manner you should with Honor, Integrity and Service Before Self. When you put on the uniform your like everyone else.
Whether straight or gay, if you do stupid things… you get busted. That’s what equal is.
Quite frankly, for most of the enlisted ranks, the attitude is more likely, Don’t Ask, Don’t Care. They grew up with gay kids in school; they’re nothing new. Everyone knows who they are. They tell all the best gay jokes.
Today, you’re more likely to hear the comment, “He may be a faggot, but he’s OUR faggot. Mess with him and you mess with the rest of us. And , he’s the best goddam machine gunner in the battalion. Besides, I borrow his clothes when I go on leave.”
(Yes, I know it’s full of stereotypes, but they make good humor and GIs are masters at gallows humor. Now be careful when you pick up the soap.)
@Mannie,
I asked my little brother (Master Sgt) about it. He shrugged and said “As long as they shoot straight, I don’t care.”
While I can agree that DADT is bad policy, so is trying to be accomodating to gay sensibilities such as allowing military dress in gay pride events and not allowing clergy to minister according to their religion. This has gone too far and it seems like gays are constantly trying to push the envelop. It almost seems by design this will happen.
The thread’s gem.
Still don’t see where he is dodging any responsibility. I see where he inquired of those who know what the hell’s going on (ie. those in the sh*t). I suppose you’re pissed because he didn’t consult with the half-wits at Gay Inc. for the correct way to think instead.
If we’re gonna keep things as they are, then strict guidlines should be put in place so that every new ‘unsuitable’ applicant won’t have a case to sue the US military. The real fear here is the slippery slope.
The US military is effective BECAUSE it selects only the healthy, only the emotionally stable, and only the competent. But the US military does discriminate as a function of it’s mission. Quadriplegics and coma patients should not be given grounds to sue for inclusion as their presence would compromise the effectiveness of our military.
No person has the right to serve in the US military if they cannot meet the minimum standards set by the US military! The dim-witted, the mentally deranged, as well as disrupted influences (Nazis, Islamists, etc.) can and should be excluded from consideration.
It’s up to the individual soldiers to follow the orders given by their superiors. It’s not the job of the military to make everyone comfortable.