WTF? Let’s see…Gen. Colin Powell’s turn on this is bizarre. While he, as one of the architects of DADT, is now for repeal, apparently the midterm scare is goosing him to urge the political slow-walk now.
Last time I checked, what he’s calling “pressuring” — a.k.a lobbying, calling and holding direct actions to urge Congress to act on legislation before it — is what citizens are encouraged to do. What is the point of electing people to represent you if you aren’t supposed to let them know how important passing a bill or addressing an issue is?
Or do the sensitivities of military homophobes who are queasy about soap dropping in the shower/homos seeing my pee-pee supercede this? Via Igor Volsky @ The Wonk Room:
POWELL: My position has been, it has been 17 years since we put that policy in place. Lots of things have happened. Attitudes have changed within our society. But i always believe, as I believed in 1993, that we have to take into account the views of our military leaders who are responsible for the well-being of the armed forces.
KING: So you support the McCain’s view?
POWELL: Yes. But, you know, our military leaders have now spoken. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense, there is some, some difference of opinion among the chiefs that will have to be resolved. But I wish that we would just let that study be finished, let it be published and let everybody read it and not leak parts of it. And so I share Senator McCain’s view that we ought to let the process unfold and not try to intercept it with court rulings or with people trying to get a vote out of the Congress when the Congress is not ready to vote on it.
