GOP, lead by McCain, prepared to FILIBUSTER TROOP FUNDING over DADT

[Bluebear]

Support the troops, GOP! :patriot:
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GOP PREPARED TO FILIBUSTER TROOP FUNDING OVER DADT.... With Democrats likely to add a provision to the Pentagon appropriations bill to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, Republicans are moving forward with Plan B: blocking the vote on troop funding.

Senate Armed Services ranking member John McCain said Thursday that he would "without a doubt" support a filibuster if the bill goes to the floor with language that Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) plans to offer as an amendment during today's markup.

"I'll do everything in my power," the Arizona Republican said, citing letters from the four service chiefs urging Congress not to act before a Pentagon review of the policy is complete. "I'm going to do everything I can to support the men and women of the military and to fight what is clearly a political agenda."

Another Armed Services Republican, Sen. Roger Wicker, also said he would support a filibuster if the repeal language makes it into the version of the bill that goes to the floor, possibly during the post-Memorial Day work period.

Just so we're clear, consider exactly what Senate Republicans are saying here. The GOP is prepared to refuse an up-or-down vote in the Senate on a bill that funds the troops during two wars because Americans will eventually be able to serve in the Armed Forces, regardless of their sexual orientation. That the policy has been endorsed by the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs -- both Republican appointees -- is irrelevant.

What's more, as Dante Atkins added, "The funny part about this whole ordeal? The compromise that the Republicans are threatening to filibuster allows the Pentagon to have the final say in the issue, which is precisely why it is not receiving the broadest support in activist circles. And yet, despite the fact that the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs get to be the ultimate arbiters of whether the policy is repealed, that's not good enough for today's homophobic Republican Party. Today's Republicans don't want gay people to be able to serve in the military -- even if the Pentagon says it's okay."

I seem to recall Republicans screaming that those who oppose funding the troops during two wars are necessarily unpatriotic terrorist sympathizers, aiding and abetting the enemy. Now these same Republicans are boasting about their intention to prevent the Senate from even voting on troop funding.

It's funny how GOP standards change, isn't it?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_05/023998.php

[Junkie Brewster]

1. So it's true. They hate gays and lesbians more than they love America

Let's keep this in our back pocket and pull it out whenever one of these defectives starts holding forth about their patriotism.

[Bluebear]

3. This is what we get for all this "bipartisan" crap

[Junkie Brewster]

12. A-fucking-men N/T

[Nite Owl]

2. I thought we had the votes?

If we are short then I hope Reid makes him do a real filibuster.

[jemelanson]

4. Yes, make them filibuster. Make them admit that this is more

important, while we are fighting two wars, than funding the troops who are fighting those wars.

[Arkana]

5. Then LET 'EM.

Put the bill out there with the DADT repeal in it and let those fuckasses try to obstruct troop funding. See how America feels when they're blocking money to the soldiers in the field because they're afraid of the OMG GAYS.

[laughingliberal]

6. +1 nt

[Bluebear]

7. +

[Arkana]

9. Put the bill out there and call votes at EVERY opportunity.

What's the minimum interval, like one per day? Yeah, do that.

Every time the Republicans vote en masse to block troop funding, make the Democratic Senate leaders put out a statement that says "Yet again, the Republicans in the Senate have voted to block funding to our brave troops overseas because they do not want gay men and women to be allowed to serve openly. I guess they care more about pushing a warped social agenda than doing what's right."

[Mojeoux]

13. Maybe they can get Rev George Rekker to testify!

and his "Rent-A-Boy!"

[donco6]

8. Republicans add layers and layers of "reasons" why they oppose gays.

You just keep peeling them back and back and back and finally you get to the core of it all - they're just bigots. And people yell at us for using that accusation, but time and again we're proven right. There's no compromising with these bigots. They're BIGOTS - it's pretty much the definition. Somebody needs to grow a pair and take them on and call them out. It's not going to be Obama, obviously. So who?

[DevonRex]

10. He's nothing but a slimy bigotted asshole. Thanks for the info, BB.

But no, it's not funny. It's sickening. As a veteran I am disgusted.

[glowing]

11. They already serve.. They just don't tell and live in fear of being outed.

Let's just be clear about the facts... There are gay men and women already serving today in the military.. Just no one can "know" that they are gay. Its ridiculous.. However, it repealing DADT and incorporating rights for families of gay persons in the military does open up a whole new can of worms for the legal rights of gay families in America. If gay people can serve, do they get to live on-base with their "spouse".. As it is gay marriage is NOT recognized. It would seem only right that homosexual families would be able to recieve the same bennies that married heterosexuals do... I'm thinking the money issues may be a Pentagon issue along with their "I'm old and can't deal with homosexuality" issues. A person in the military recieves more money if they are married and for each child that they have. They can have access to on-base housing.. as well as the benefits of health care. AND if our military has to deal with the legal aspects homosexuals having the same rights as the heterosexual soldiers, then the US as a whole will have to deal with issues such as DOMA and equal rights for GLBT as a whole... Actual civil rights would have to be allowed to every GLBT American if the US military is going to recognize and support gays in the military and the extention of the guaranteed rights that encompasses recongizing their status.

[David Zephyr]

14. Behold the Clown: John McCain, Shameless Pandering Politician.

Pander. Pander. Pander.