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Think about the cast of assertive characters at the forefront of lobbying on the Hill and working the media on DADT repeal over the last year — a long list of DADT-discharged service members, advocacy orgs Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, and Servicemembers United among the high profile outlets.
If you’re Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Joe Lieberman and planning a presser for tomorrow, wouldn’t you want representatives from above at your side for credibility?
Apparently not. Look at the invitees for a presser tomorrow (via media advisory from Harry Reid’s office):
- Joe Solmonese, President, Human Rights Campaign
- Eric Alva, Iraq war veteran, United States Marine Corps
- Cesar Vargas, City University of New York (CUNY) [L]aw Student who would be able to join the military under the DREAM Act
I’m sorry, but where’s Aubrey Sarvis of SLDN, for instance, who has actually served in the military and has bucked the WH and the Hill to be very outspoken on DADT repeal? Where are the vets who accompanied Lady Gaga? Hmm. Do you think tender egos related to the latter had anything to do with this?
I’m sure many little Beltway birdies will be dropping messages to me and I will have more details on this travesty tomorrow.
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Speaking of Harry Reid’s office, all I could say about the Senate Majority Leader after reading this was “Oh, f*ck no.” (The Politico):
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had an unusual form of praise for New York’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, this morning at the fundraiser Mayor Bloomberg hosted for him at his townhouse – referring to her as the “hottest” member as she sat just a few feet away, according to three sources.
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Meanwhile, check out Joe Sudbay’s latest post “Olbermann talks the hurdles facing DADT repeal with Richard Socarides“:
UPDATE @ 10:39 PM: Shortly after I wrote this post, I was informed by someone involved with this process that the White House is not lobbying fence-sitting senators to reach the magic 60 votes. Here’s what I was told:
As we all know, without a fierce effort and person-to-person advocacy from Obama himself (or at least his senior-most staff), Senators have little reason to change their minds and support debating the Defense Authorization bill. Never did I think I’d see the day when Lady Gaga would do more to advocate for repeal of DADT than our president who campaigned on equality.It’s stunning really. And, they wonder why the base is depressed.
19 Comments
“Joe Solmonese, President, Human Rights Campaign”I’m sure that Pee Wee will deliver an impassioned speech regarding how DADT prevents a select group of men in the military from making $300K/year for doing nothing other than tending to their attire.
Appletini!
None of these surprises me. At all.
History Will Set the Record Straight
Eleveld has pointed out the sameIn her Saturday View from Washington column:
Joe Lieberman’s #1 rule…is always “Don’t invite anyone to the press event who will be more charismatic than Joe Lieberman.”
You can imagine how that narrows down the list of candidates.
The usual DNC “propping up Joe” stuntsso that he and HRC can continue the fiction of representing us while the Dems get a “nice, normal gay” to cut a deal with; a gay whose income depends upon the premise of us not actually ever acheiving equality…
Plus, if Joe were ever on a negotiating team to draw the US-Canadian border, we’d be lucky to be left with Dry Tortugas, south of Florida, when he got done. But there would be a photo op and he’d get the pen ….
Sorry, I’m tired of all the undeserved Valentines you keep sending SLDN and SU….
NO ONE in “Gay, Inc.,” has gone after Obama the way they should have since it became obvious VERY early last year that he was abandoning his promises to LGBTs.
This ENTIRE mess of DADT “maybe repeal”…maybe a segregated military…maybe no end to discharges at all …can be traced to him…AND their failure to react appropriately….
GetEQUAL got it early…but remains marginalized because Gay, Inc., 1. doesn’t want to admit they’ve been wrong to trust ObamaGates so long, and 2. don’t want to give up the turf they had…however impotent it was in fulfilling their job descriptions.
GetEQUALDoesn’t Joe have only 100 days left in 2010 to make good on his promise that DADT will be repealed this year? Didn’t he raise six figures in the Carolinas at their HRC “gala” based on that promise? His balls are in a bind now!
Spread the word people! HRC is PART OF THE PROBLEM! And our other “voice”, The Task Force is MIA! GetEQUAL is the only group fighting for our rights.
Blame Barack Obama…for the impending failure. He has been trying to sabotage DADT repeal all year.
Stop subsidizing this useless party, and stop supporting this backstabbing president.
None of that, of course, negates Pee Wee Solmonese being the least worthy person to be at this presser
“HRC is PART OF THE PROBLEM! And our other “voice”, The Task Force is MIA”I might delete the words “PART OF.”
BTW – This “Task Force” of which you speak? What is it?
That would leave mimes.
There is no aspect of our movementthat has not been poisoned by HRC’s passivist, collaborationist stance. If–dare I say when?–repeal fails, it will be as much their fault as Obama’s. Though I continue to insist that Obama deserves the lion’s share of blame, how much of his inaction on DADT and our other issues is due to HRC holding his hand and assuring him that he’d get our votes and money anyway?
We’ve had people on this site telling us that there’s no way we can know where our movement would be if HRC didn’t exist, as if that somehow excuses them. But it’s not to hard to understand that if we had a fierce advocacy organization that was pushing the president instead of assisting his inertia, we would most certainly be better off.
Solomonese is their “Head Faggot in Charge”so of course he’s on the top of the presser list.
ah, but the president did lift a finger todayHis choice for Marine Commandant is testifying that Congress should not repeal DADT.
http://newsok.com/leader-of-ma…
It’s a pretty clear signal from Mr. Hope of Audacity, one would think.
Don’t diss the mimes…They make more sense than most senators…
I’d rather buy a DVD box set of The Shields and Yarnell Show than give credence to any senator (other than, maybe, Franken)
You’re right,mimes are infinitely more interesting than Sen Lieberman. Especially since they don’t whine.
Of course you would invite HRCWhy wouldn’t you invite HRC? With their success on DADT, their success on ENDA, their success on marriage initiatives, and their success in fundraising to support all their incredible collaborative outcomes – they seem a natural fit to me – particularly when yet another effort is defeated.