This is not exactly surprising, but infuriating nevertheless. A year after DADT was repealed--during which time the sky didn't fall, unit cohesion did not suffer, and the military did not lose troops in droves--Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has expressed support for returning to the failed policy. This is how far gone the Republicans are on the LGBT issue--they want to fight this battle all over again, for absolutely no reason other than to fire up their bigoted supporters and demonize gay people. There couldn't possibly be any other reason, because the Pentagon has declared the repeal of DADT a success, with none of the problems or disruptions predicted by asshats like Jordan.
This is not just a random crazy Congressman from Teabaggerstan. This is the chair of the Republican Study Committee, the group of 160 Republican Congressmen that plays a large role in directing GOP policymaking. Jordan actually has some weight to throw. And here he is, during an interview at the Values Voter Summit hatefest, ignoring the will of the Pentagon, pushing aside the will of the people who so clearly supported ending DADT, and suggesting that a Republican Congress should take this issue up again. And possibly--although, bless his heart, he left this open--throwing the many gay and lesbian service members who have already come out of the closet out of the military. Because that's good fucking policy.
Watch Jordan make his comments:
If you can't watch that video, here's the transcript, courtesy of Think Progress:
KEYES: Is [Don't Ask Don't Tell] something that you think the GOP will pursue reinstating starting in 2013 if they take control?
JORDAN: I wasn’t for making the change that was made last few years ago in the lame duck session. I was certainly opposed to that, the change that the Obama administration made. We’ll look at guidance from our military, but I’m certainly supportive of going back to the previous policy.
KEYES: What about those service-members who have already announced their sexual orientation? Are they going to get kicked out?
JORDAN: That’s a military question. I’d have to think about how that would work in practice.
Catch that? "I'd have to think about how that would work in practice." How about,
it wouldn't, you fucking asshole? This dude is living in another universe.
Think Progress notes:
Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) has previously indicated that he would not like to see Republicans bring up Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but his opposition may not be enough to stop Jordan and the Republican Study Committee from reinstating the policy if the GOP prevails in November.
These people are fucking nuts.