A few weeks ago, Bruce reported that at least one gay group was knuckling under to pressure from Washington Democrats to accept former Senator Chuck Hagel’s apology for anti-gay remarks he made in 1998. Do wonder how readily this group would have been to accept a real Republican’s change of heart.
Today, President Obama announced that he intends to appoint Mr. Hagel as Secretary of Defense.
Despite the eagerness of gay groups to approve of Mr. Obama’s appointment, “the target of the 1998 slur, leading gay philanthropist James Hormel, told” the Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent last month that
. . . he never received an apology from Hagel himself, questioned the sincerity of the apology, and said the incident should still raise questions about whether Hagel is the right man to oversee the repeal of don’t ask don’t tell.
“I have not received an apology,” Hormel, who is a major figure in Democratic politics, told me. “I thought this so-called apology, which I haven’t received, but which was made public, had the air of being a defensive move on his part.” Hormel added that the apology appeared to have been given “only in service of his attempt to get the nomination.”
Well, while most gay groups seem more interested in pleasing Mr. Obama than in standing up for gay Americans, at least one gay organization is taking issue with the Hagel appointment. Log Cabin
. . . called former senator Chuck Hagel’s (R) apology for his past statements on gay rights “too little, too late” in a full page ad in Monday’s Washington Post.
The ad appears the same day President Obama plans to announce Hagel as his nominee for defense secretary.
The Log Cabin Republicans announced their opposition to Hagel and ran a similar ad in the New York Times last month.
(Via Jennifer Rubin.) Kudos, Clarke Log Cabin.
UPDATE: Just learned that Clarke Cooper is no longer head of Log Cabin, thus is not responsible for this release.