Political Quotes

“I, too, am concerned that repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell would have a profoundly negative impact on the readiness and effectiveness of our military, particularly among our front line combat forces. The survey on repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell was fundamentally and fatally flawed. Rather than asking the question, ``Should the law be repealed?'' the survey presumed the law would be repealed and asked how our Armed Forces would implement the presumed change. Additionally, the survey itself did reveal widespread concern about overturning the current law, but it was largely ignored in the mainstream press coverage. For example, among personnel who said they have served with a leader they believed to be gay or lesbian, 91 percent of those who believe that this affected unit morale say that that impact was mostly negative or mixed. And 67 percent of our frontline marines in combat arms units predict working alongside a gay man or lesbian will have a negative effect on their unit's effectiveness. We must not ignore the concerns of our combat troops. It is irresponsible for Congress to fail to pass a defense authorization bill for the first time in almost 50 years and at the last minute attempt to pass a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell to placate some within the Democrat liberal base. The United States military is not the place for social experiments.”