THIS MODERN WORLD

Another peculiar comic cover from the the best web site ever. (Hat tip: reader Fran O.)

Kevin Drum is right to point out this piece of Christopher Hitchens idiocy :

Come to think of it, what happened to the loud and widespread demand that gays be allowed to serve in uniform? Surely that was not just a Clinton-era campaign to be dropped in favor of gay marriage at just the time when the country needed troops in Afghanistan (generally agreed) and in Iraq (much disputed)?

I don’t intend a taunt in the above sentence (it’s more of a tease, really, as well as a serious question to which I have heard no answer)

If you haven’t heard an answer, it’s because you aren’t paying attention, Mr. Hitchens. Pretty much every progressive blogger I know has written numerous posts about how “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” hurts the war on terror (mine are here, here, and, here). It was also addressed by Wesley Clark and John Edwards during on the Democratic primary debates a year and a half ago.

Since it didn’t sink in the first hundred or so times, here’s the crux of the liberal argument. According to various inquiries into the 9/11 attacks, the government’s lack of qualified Arabic translators is “one of the most serious issues limiting the Intelligence Community’s ability to analyze, discern, and report on terrorist activities in a timely fashion.”(PDF), yet gay translators are still being discharged. This is a serious issue that goes well beyond gay rights, yet the President is too cowardly to stand up to the hateful segments of the Republican party do the right thing. Considering that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is a Presidential order away from being overturned, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the George W. Bush’s homophobia is hurting national security.

I’m watching Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana on Cspan as he addresses the College Republicans. Much talk about heroes and serving and sacrifice — but not in terms of enlisting to help fight the war they all so enthusiastically support. “Serving” in the sense of pursuing their own careers. “Heroes” in the sense of courageously striving to become future Republican leaders. This passage in particular struck me as extraordinary, given the 900-pound elephant in the room that no one seems to be mentioning, the Army’s current desperate need for 18-22 year-old bodies:

If you really want to know what’s in your heart, ask this question: what would you die for? Who would you die for? Are there people, are there ideas, are there causes in your life for which you would lay that life down? Find that, men and women, and you will find your heart.

Unbelievably, he does not go on to mention the war in Iraq, which is apparently not such a cause — instead meandering toward such platitudes as “understand America” — because “you cannot lead America if you do not know her.”

And there you have the crux of it. These are the elite, the future leaders. That whole messy fighting and dying business — that would be for other people.

(My transcript, no link.)

In Iraq last week, multiple car bombs on successive days in Baghdad killed more than 40 people and wounded at least 100, and a police official was assassinated. More than 700 people have been killed in the capital by insurgents in the past month.

Here.

Accusing half the country of treason is a brilliant political strategy.

(But, oh, that Howard Dean — what a nutcase!)