Is it me or were we told there was a clear path to repeal? The level of political homophobia stinks like an upturned porta-potty. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) doesn’t think so. In fact he thinks, despite polling and testimony by military officials that DADT needs to be flushed away, that a vote could fail.

When asked about equality advocates’ concern that a moratorium on enforcement of the military’s ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy would put off a vote on repealing policy this year, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said on Thursday, ”That’s not my concern. My concern would be that the vote on ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ gets defeated.”

When asked if that meant the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman had concerns that such a vote would be defeated this year, Levin’s response was blunt:

”Yeah, darn right I do.”

Levin made the comments following testimony Thursday morning by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and top military chiefs with the Navy and Marine Corps.

I’m tired of this sh*t. Name some names — who up there on the Hill is waffling on repeal? This pathetic jiu-jitsu over moving on this is absolutely enraging and ridiculous at this point.

The Palm Center makes a pointed statement — the military doesn’t need permission from those who are serving to effect change. Polling their feelings about the matter is in the end, irrelevant — all they need to do is look at other countries where gays and lesbians already serve. It’s a top-down institution that shouldn’t be governed by the sensitivities or bigotries of those who are in the military — it’s a bad policy, get rid of it. But decisionmakers — and apparently lawmakers — are bunching their panties over this.

In a conversation with Dr. Nathaniel Frank today, Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations, acknowledged difficulties with the plan to poll U.S. troops on their personal feelings about serving with gays. “We’ve never assessed the force because it’s not our practice to go within our military and poll our force to determine if they like the laws of the land or not,” Admiral Roughead told Frank in a discussion immediately following the Admiral’s testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “That gets you into a very difficult regime.”

Frank, Senior Research Fellow at the Palm Center, agreed with Admiral Roughead.  ”The military is a top-down institution for good reason,” he said.  ”Acknowledging the concerns of the troops is important, but that’s not the same as using an opinion poll as the basis for making policy.” Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin has also said that, while it is important to remain sensitive to the concerns of service members, “An army is not a democracy.”

This month, the Palm Center released a policy memorandum with eight research recommendations to the new Pentagon Working Group on gays in the military.  One of the recommendations supports Admiral Roughead’s observation:

Consult troops for relevant information rather than to ask their permission for reform. It is important to be sensitive to the concerns and anxieties of military members as options are weighed about lifting the ban on openly gay service. Yet it is crucial that, when uniformed personnel are consulted on this matter, the purpose of the consultations be made clear: Polls or anecdotes about the personal preferences of enlisted personnel and junior officers should not be used as a basis to determine policy, and they do not constitute evidence about the critical question of what impact lifting the ban will have on cohesion, recruitment, and effectiveness. In Britain and Canada, approximately two-thirds of troops surveyed said that they would not work with gays, yet when inclusive policies were implemented, just a handful of service members actually retired.

What sane minds want to see DADT left in place besides the professional anti-gay set? The people who love the closet…