There Are No More Excuses

In October the Senate came 2 votes short of repealing DADT. Two Democrats joined every Republican in voting against cloture. The supposed Republican moderates had all kinds of excuses, one of which was that the Pentagon study was not complete. It was officially released today and proved what we’ve been saying – people don’t care and it won’t hurt the military.

Moments ago, in a press conference announcing the results of the Pentagon’s 10-month review of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Working Group co-chairs Defense Department General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, concluded that the risk of repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to overall military effectiveness is low and Gates even urged Congress to act on repeal before the Courts overturn the policy. “Now that we have completed this review, I strongly urge the Senate to pass this legislation and send it to the president for signature before the end of this year,” he said. “It is only a matter of time before the federal courts are drawn once more into the fray, with the very real possibility that this change would be imposed immediately by judicial fiat – by far the most disruptive and damaging scenario I can imagine, and the one most hazardous to military morale, readiness and battlefield performance.”

…

A summary of the results of the survey sent to 400,000 service members as outlined by the two chairmen:
– 70% of Service members said they would be able to “work together to get the job done” with a gay servicemember in their immediate units.
– 69% said they worked in a unit with a co-worker that they believed to be homosexual.
– 92% stated that their unit’s “ability to work together,” with a gay person was “very good, “good” or “neither good nor poor.” (89% for those in Army combat arms units, 84% for those in Marine combat arms units.)
– 30% overall (and 40–60% in the Marine Corps and in various combat arms specialties) expressed negative views or concerns about the impact of a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The evidence is clear – conservatives worst fears about “unit readiness” won’t come true if DADT is repealed. In fact the survey implies that soldiers feel more positive towards openly gay soldiers the more they work with them. The fate of repeal lies with the few supposed Republican moderates. Josh Marshall at TPM observes that Secretary of Defense Gates neatly outflanked the mushy moderates.

It was classic Gates: a combination of finesse and sharp elbows. He framed the issue starkly: repeal DADT in an orderly way with enough time for me to implement it, and I can pull this off without jeopardizing our military readiness — or you can leave it to the courts which is “my greatest fear” and which guarantees a disruptive transition that could damage the military.

He offered the choice of stability v. unpredictability, an argument dear to Republican hearts. The topper: What could be worse to leaning congressional Republicans than abdicating their power and control to those dreaded activist judges?

Harry Reid has said that another vote on repeal will happen this year. Democrats need at least 4 Republicans to cross over to get the bill to the floor. Mean old man McCain still promises to filibuster (he wants his legacy to be hating the gays I guess) but several Republicans have expressed that they would probably vote for repeal. Keep your fingers crossed on this one.