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NPR interviewed Rep. Duncan D. Hunter — the son of the former Rep. Duncan Hunter who ran for the Republican nomination for President in 2008 — regarding his take on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. NPR described their audio segment Rep. Hunter: Repealing ‘Don’t Ask’ Will Hurt Military this way:
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) says repealing the law that bans gays from openly serving in the military will hurt the cohesiveness of the armed forces. Duncan, who served in the Marine Corps in both Afghanistan and Iraq, says most people in the military would be uncomfortable if the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy were repealed.
The audio of the interview:
The excerpt I found interesting (emphasis added):
Interviewer: Today we turn to California Congressman Duncan Hunter. He’s a Republican, and a former U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Congressman Hunter, welcome to the program.Rep. Duncan Hunter: Great to be with you.
Interviewer: You are not in favor of repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Why not?
Rep. Duncan Hunter: No, because I think that it’s bad for the cohesiveness and the unity of the military units. And, especially for those in close combat — in close quarters — in country right now. It’s not the time to do it. I think the military is not civilian life. I think the folks who have been in the military, that have been in those very close situations with each other — there has to be a special bond there. I think that bond is broken if you open up the military to transgenders; to hermaphrodites; to gays and lesbians.
Interviewer: Transgenders and hermaphrodites.
Rep. Duncan Hunter: That’s going to be part of this whole thing. It’s not just gays and lesbians, it’s the whole gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual community. If you’re going to let anybody in, no matter what preference — what sexual preference — they have, that means the military is going to probably let everybody in. It’s going to be like civilian life. And, I think that would be detrimental for the military.
Well boy howdy! The “transgenders” an “hermaphrodites” are going to be part of the “everybody” who are let into the military! Are you afraid yet of this scary possibility? — A “scary” possibility that really isn’t what repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell addresses at all?
Hmm. Do you don’t think this argument of Rep. Hunter’s against repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell might be a straw man argument, do you? Or perhaps an appeal to fear, maybe?
Well, repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is not going to result in transsexuals — or other transgender people — having the ability to serve openly in the U.S. military. And, perhaps this may be news to Rep. Hunter, but intersex conditions are not a sexual preference; I’m pretty damn sure too that intersex people are already allowed to serve in the military.
Jeebus. Lesbians, gays, and bisexuals would be allowed to serve in the military if Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell were repealed; transsexuals and other transgender people would still not be allowed to openly serve.
Let’s please stick to the actual issues and actual facts about repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and not make-up straw man and/or appeal to fear arguments, shall we Rep. Hunter?
19 Comments
Hunter Junior simply proves…
…mental illness runs in families.
Next up, Duncan will finally explain what Adolph Scalia meant when he said in 2003, “First you let ‘em legalize sodomy…then they’ll want to legalize masturbation.”
I wonder who he sends into public restrooms to make certain no “transgenders and hermaphrodites” are in there before he goes in?
“Reichscongressman, I’m afraid you’ll have to hold it again until you get home. Larry Craig was in there!”
I have to wonder if…having served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he is aware that he probably had a gay soldier covering his ass (no excuse for the pun) at some time.
And a Transgender one!Plenty of Trans people have served in the military. Transsexuals, Crossdressers, Genderqueers.
That they couldn’t do so openly is every iota an injustice and travesty as with GLB.
I do wish this guy was right and repealing DADT actually would allow TG and I servicepeople to serve openly.
Huh?As is often the case with people on the far right, I have absolutely no idea what this idiot Hunter is talking about. We’ve become a nation of 305 million people, and for half, their mouths are disconnected from their brains. The words just tumble out and make no sense.
Maybe they’re putting something in the water?
Gilda Radner’s opinionHow can he have anything against Transgenders?
They are beloved children’s toys.
Not to mention two great movies!
What?
The toy is spelling how?
Oh.
Never mind!
The bigger issueThe bigger issue here for me is that we have yet another example of inherited political wealth.
Son o’ Duncan Hunter??
I am f**kin’ sick of it!
Its time for a constitutional amendment – either to put a stop to this sh*t or to formalize it by re-naming the houses of Congress to be ‘House of Lords 1′ and ‘House of Lords 2′.
Face it, Autumn: “you people” are scareyAnd far more damaging to unit cohesion and national security than gang members, skinheads and Talibangelical crusaders who join the military to learn the skills necessary for more efficient gangbanging, race-baiting and bringing about Armageddon.
(I don’t really need a sarcasm smiley, do I?)
MAHALOWhilst I ponder the paucity of neurotransmission inherent in this diatribe I must admit I am much more fearful that if we do not throw virgins into the volcano, Pele will destroy us all.
well he might actually have a pointif the military allows the entire LGBT community in, and trains them to fight and shoot….he might have to watch all the stupid things that come out of his mouth. Just kidding, not advocating violence.
More likely he’s scared that if we are allowed in the military, his next bashing victim might be a marine trained to fight back and win.
As I said in my Facebook status last night after hearing this interview……The stagnant water in the drain pan under my water heater has more depth than the rhetoric spewed forth by the (dis)Honorable Duncan Hunter. The complete and utter lack of intellectual honesty on display here is magnificent, but shouldn’t suprise anyone coming from one of America’s purest practitioners of boogeyman… politics. There is room for honest debate here, but that’s not what you will get inviting this guy to comment.
Additional comment for here on The Blend – Hunter’s logic boils down to “Because I and people like me are homophobic, a homophobic policy is justified, in order to protect the homophobia.” The circularity is almost amusing, except that it’s not. Hunter and his ilk are the scum of the America political pond.
In an interview ofn MSNBC yesterdayhe was asked about that very point, given that all our allies permit gays to serve openly. Hunter seemed momentarily nonplussed by the question, then proceeded to insist that he had never met an openly gay or lesbian soldier from any country. To the extent that Hunter is typical, it means that our military “leaders” are people so clueless as to defy description.
ALL OK now. COLIN POWELL is ON BOARD too. (finally)…Here from NYTIMES: http://tinyurl.com/yh3m7m9
This is the same US Amrine corps noted forbeing unwanted wherever they have been stationed due to the frequency of rapes? The ones that beat a soldier of their own to death for dating a trans woman?
The Marine Coprs that Harry Truman wanted to dissolve because he considered it a threat to democracy?
The one with a general that said that God guided the bullet that killed JFK?
That Marine Corps is too good for “hermaphrodites?”
.
The Marines who used the “willing victim of a gang rape” defence?
Well, marine Duncan Hinter, I am so sorry that the LGBT’s are too immoral to serve in your elite and prestigious corps….
LOL!!!Duncan exposed! I wish they would have asked him ‘what’s a hermaphrodite?’ You know he doesn’t have a clue.
I beg to differI bet he “knows” exactly what a hermaphrodite is – somebody who can have sex with both males and females. Just like he “knows” that repealing DADT would be bad for the military.
Dunkin’ Hunter? R-CA?Apparently this congresscritter can’t tell the donut from the hole, and must have spent his entire life in a quest to acquire a second axon to go with the one that he’s using to create the dimmest spark in his bulb. One axon isn’t enough to power a brain.
RCA used to make victrola machines. They played plastic disks with holes somewhat vaguely similar in shape to donuts. Is there a connection? Is he also looking for the information contained in the holes found in the center of old records? Such information might be processed by a single axon, being a null set.
Then again, ol’ Dunkin wouldn’t know a null set if he was looking at it. To be sure, based on his expressed opinions, he might believe a null set is what he has for cojones, and he wouldn’t be far fromt he truth.
He doesn’t even have a clue as to how bad he looks. On the other hand, there have to be a whole lot of people who are more brain-damaged than he is – the people who actually voted for him.
Democracy does not work when the electorate is composed of people who don’t have a clue.
HermaphoditesJust out of curiousity, what IS the policy on hermaphodites?
Transgenders? Hermaphrodites?Hey Duncan, 1950 called and wants its terms back.
Dena
it is currently disqualifyingArmy reg AR 40-501, which is the med standards for entry, says
“2-14. Genitalia
a. Female genitalia.
…
(5) History of major abnormalities or defects of the genitalia such as change of sex (P64.5), hermaphroditism, pseudohermaphroditism, or pure gonadal dysgenesis (752.7) or dysfunctional residuals from surgical correction of these
conditions is disqualifying.”