Over the weekend former Vice President Dick Cheney said that it was time to reconsider DADT. According to the
Washington Post:
He based his view that "it's time to reconsider the policy" on the public statements of Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other military brass in support of ditching "don't ask, don't tell." But Cheney did volunteer that "things have changed significantly" in the two decades since he ran the Pentagon as secretary of defense under George Bush the Elder. "I think the society has moved on," he said. "I think it's partly a generational question."
Like Colin Powell, Cheney suggests that we get rid of a discriminatory policy without owning any responsibility for that policy. Cheney had eight years to say what he said last Sunday. He's waited until the Bush administration was out of office so he wouldn't upset the right wing in his party. Why is the press letting these guys do an about face on this policy when, in fact, they were either originators of the policy or enforced that policy when they were in office? Why is the press giving these guys a pass for doing what's right long after their political career could be a risk? These two men -- and many, many others -- were on the wrong side of history. It's great that they are on the side of equality now, but we can't let them run away from their past.
He based his view that "it's time to reconsider the policy" on the public statements of Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other military brass in support of ditching "don't ask, don't tell." But Cheney did volunteer that "things have changed significantly" in the two decades since he ran the Pentagon as secretary of defense under George Bush the Elder. "I think the society has moved on," he said. "I think it's partly a generational question."
Like Colin Powell, Cheney suggests that we get rid of a discriminatory policy without owning any responsibility for that policy. Cheney had eight years to say what he said last Sunday. He's waited until the Bush administration was out of office so he wouldn't upset the right wing in his party. Why is the press letting these guys do an about face on this policy when, in fact, they were either originators of the policy or enforced that policy when they were in office? Why is the press giving these guys a pass for doing what's right long after their political career could be a risk? These two men -- and many, many others -- were on the wrong side of history. It's great that they are on the side of equality now, but we can't let them run away from their past.
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