How long before we find him in a restroom stall with another man or drunk driving on his way from a gay bar?
There are some things Nancy never put in her memoirs.
Win one for het Gipper!
Insert “finger in dike” joke here.
No. I most certainly will not!
I hope he’s related to Cindy Sheehan because that’d be hilarious.
It seems he’s making us amazingly popular with our allies
Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, had this to say ‘The remarks were outrageous, wrong and beneath contempt’
Sheehan’s interview hurt my head so much trying to understand the leaps in logic he makes.
What I can not get past again and again on this issue is how the right can continually make statements criticizing the armies of our allies. They keep saying how policies our allies have adopted make their armies weaker then expect them to fight side by side with our soldiers.
He objected to gay soldiers having some sort of “special privilege.” The question was asked if there was any sort of rule against a straight soldier saying “I am straight” and he said no, then was asked if that constituted special privilege to the straight soldiers who are allowed to say that over gay soldiers who are not. He fumfuh’d and didn’t really answer. He then went on to claim that there would be a rise in sexual assault and rape if gays are allowed to serve openly, and was subsequently asked if he thinks that’s a problem for men and women serving together and he said it’s not a problem.
Not only is he a jackass, he’s pretty fucking clueless about rape statistics in the military.
There is no delicate way to discuss anything so repulsive, so: was he suggesting gay soldiers might rape…well, who, exactly? A Marine? Why not molest a grizzly bear?
Well, obviously. If you allow a relationship between people to be more open and honest, of course it’ll increase the chances of rape! Because gay people are gross. Duh.
What a despicable jackass.
Who called this guy? Who asked he appear before the committee?
It was not clear who requested him. He was introduced by Carl Levin(chairman, who often introduces people). I haven’t been able to find out how they even came up with that loon but here is a list of people who could have called him.
http://armed-services.senate.gov/members.htm
Unless it was some ploy to make DADT opponents look stupid(which he succeeded in) We can cross a lot of people off that list. I’m going to assume it was someone who’s history and current stance on the issue is in favor of keeping DADT. I’ve also taken the liberty to remove those who may oppose DADT at some level but have opted to let the military make that decision for themselves. Your likely candidates for requesting the jackass are:
John McCain (Arizona)
James M. Inhofe (Oklahoma)
Jeff Sessions (Alabama)
Saxby Chambliss (Georgia)
Richard Burr (North Carolina)
My guess, then, is Inhofe. That guy is a jackass AND a moron.
Oh, c’mon, they’re ALL morons. I’d say they all invited him, but that would be kinda gay, wouldn’t it?
This individual formed his opinions over a lifetime spent in an environment where “I outrank you therefore I’m smarter than you” is rock-solid. I know we all laugh at our boss’ jokes, and do what he or she tells us to do, but that’s part survival, part social lubricant. In the Marines, it’s indoctrinated starting the first second of boot camp.
Years ago, there were officers just like this who firmly opposed racial integration, until someone who outranked them ordered[ them to believe otherwise*. There were officers who believed men and women serving together would be a disaster (and despite his testimony I don’t see why Gen. Sheehan couldn’t have been one of them), until someone who outranked them ordered them to believe otherwise. These guys defend a democracy, but they don’t function in one themselves.
Military hierarchies don’t lend themselves to creative thought. These are the same guys guys who in 1903, when they were given a new rifle that held 5 cartidges, insisted on it having a cut-off switch on it that would make it like the old one that had to be loaded one cartridge at a time.
I’ve met people with that attitude - generals, bird colonels, captains, etc. While it is true that many officers are very intelligent, it is not by nature of their rank, they were probably (wild ass guess) highly intelligent before attaining high rank. I’ve also met some that I consider to be fucking stupid. It is interesting to note, the ones who ARE smart are usually not the ones with that attitude.
In addition to the above mentioned statements by Dutch officials, the (apparently new) group Pink Army was preparing to start a class action suit against Sheehan for his remarks, but they dropped it since the General has apologized* via a letter to former Chief of Defence Staff Henk van den Breemen (who he previously named as the source for his claim).
- The exact contents of the letter appears to be unkown, one paper claims it was an apology, the other only states that the general “inaccurately remembered” their conversations.
Links (Dutch):
http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1364354.ece/Anti-homogeneraal_haalt_bakzeil
http://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/article3028467.ece/Sheehan_stelt_homo_standpunt_bij.html
ETA: from the Pink Army site:
and that he regrets involving van Breemen in a public debate.
Pretty weak “apology” if you ask me.