Gay Senator Polis argues with gay Republican leader twice on national TV [video]
COOPER: I’m not defending the delay. I’m not defending the bigoted staffer. It sounds liket they’re wanting to get to the bottom of it. And why aren’t we talking about the [Maj. Margaret] Witt ruling tonight? … We talked about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — keeping them honest, why isn’t President Obama firing his Department of Justice attorneys who are equating homosexuality to all kinds of thing, like incest. So, if you want to talk about firing some people, I’d like to see some Justice attorneys let go right now.
POLIS: You want to talk about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?” Again, 96% of the Democrats in the Senate — everyone except for two voted for it; 0% of the Republicans voted for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” despite the fact that 75% of the American people support it….
US Representative Jared Polis, a Democrat from Colorado, arguing with R. Clarke Cooper, head of the gay group called the Log Cabin Republicans. The two men, who had already gone head-to-head earlier on “Hardball,” went off topic while on CNN. The were supposed to be discussing the revelation that an unnamed staffer, inside the Atlanta, Georgia office of US Senator Saxby Chambliss, seems to have posted a comment on JoeMyGod.com, saying that gay people to be killed: “All faggots must die!” Both Polis and Cooper agreed that the evidence shows someone in Chambliss office posted the comment. However, Log Cabin’s Cooper seemed dismissive of the ability to locate the staffer quickly despite there being only seven individuals in that office.
Regarding the gay military ban called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Cooper was referring to the recent ruling calling for the reinstatement of Air Force Major Margaret Witt. Also, in an unrelated case, The Log Cabin Republicans won a separate court battle against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” In that case, a US District judge ruled that the ban against gay servicemembers was unconstitutional. However, the US Senate failed to agree to vote last week on whether to repealing the policy or not. And as Polis points out, the measure received absolutely no Republican support. (CNN)
That leads some in the LGBT community to wonder why Log Cabin Republicans would defend a politician like Chambliss, hand out awards to anti-gay politicians like John Cornyn and Pete Sessions, and blame the Democratic leader Harry Reid for the DADT failure instead of the Republicans who stood united against the measure.
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