Bill Clinton: Colin Powell Misrepresented Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy To Me

[bigtree]

Former President Bill Clinton said that Colin Powell, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during his administration, misrepresented how Don't Ask, Don't Tell would work as the legislation was being passed into law in 1993.

In an interview Tuesday, Clinton told CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric that he didn't choose the Don't Ask, Don't policy, which bans gays from serving openly in the military. "I accepted it because it was better than an absolute ban," Clinton said. "I was promised it would be better than it was."

"Don't ask, don't tell was only adopted when both Houses of Congress had voted by a huge veto-proof margin to legislate the absolute ban on gays in the military if I didn't do something else," Clinton said. "So there's been a lot of rewriting history saying Bill Clinton just gave into that. That's just factually false. I didn't do anything until the votes were counted. Now, when Colin Powell sold me on don't pass, don't tell, here's what he said it would be. Gay service members would never get in trouble for going to gay bars, marching in gay rights parades as long as they weren't in uniform That was what they were promised. That's a very different don't ask, don't tell than we got."


read: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20017186-503544.html

[teenagebambam]

1. Too little too late, big dawg.

[bigtree]

2. of course

. . . but I don't see any use in just chucking this confession of his aside. What an admission!

[rug]

4. Too little, right now.

[pnwmom]

8. So you'd have rather have an absolute ban on gays in the military?

Read what he said. He could have vetoed it, and they had the votes to overturn his veto.

[DURHAM D]

19. All of us that were involved in the gay movement understood

at the time what DADT was supposed to do or not do. It was as Clinton described. I went to a seminar in Wilmington, NC (many military bases nearby) right after it was signed. The meeting was for gay service members and the team running the seminar and the service members were ecstatic about DADT.

The community was blindsided when the military began to use it in a completely different way from what was intended. We knew back then that Colin Powell was a total and absolute slime ball but for some time he has received a pass at DU. To know him is to hate him - going back to My Lai.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton has been totally slimed as well as the need to change history around this issue by the Obama campaign became the new "truth". fucking shameful

[ecstatic]

3. and were his comments to John Kerry misrepresented too?

(throw gays under the bus?)

[DURHAM D]

20. What exactly do you think that advice was?

This should be interesting.

[democrank]

5. Sure, Bill........

[walldude]

6. Bwhahahhahahahahahahaha

I didn't do it on purpose, I was just misinformed. The George W Bush defense.

[bigtree]

9. sure

. . . it's the same type of hypocrisy and disconnect that has this administration still discharging gays for a policy they claim to feel is so egregious.

[walldude]

12. Do they have a school that teaches this crap or what?

Political Doublespeak 101.

[DURHAM D]

21. You obviously were not paying attention to this issue at the time.

Now you just know shit.

That is very different than don't know shit.

You are just wrong.

[bluestateguy]

7. We are in this mess largely because of his screwup in 1993

Before Congress enacted the law the policy could have been overturned by a presidential executive order. As commander in chief of the armed forces, he could have issued the order, told anyone in the military who didn't like it that they were welcome to find a new career, and demanded absolute compliance, or face a court martial. There would have been about 2 weeks of pissing and moaning, and the matter would have died down.

And if Congress had tried to overturn him ,he would have vetoed it and the veto would have been sustained.

[pnwmom]

10. Dream on. The world was a different place in 1993. The furor

could very well have cost him re-election.

[bigtree]

11. true. I'm not a fan of the argument that they're just responding to what Congress does

Sure, President Bush would have just reversed the order when he came into office, but, here we are now with a Democratic president who would have (presumably) pulled it back the other way. The WH has to lead, whatever the political consequences, and compel Congress to follow.

[DURHAM D]

22. nonesense...

[JI7]

13. just like he did with the UN speech or whatever he lied about to attack IRaq ?

[ingac70]

14. Oh, bullshit Bill. n/t

[mysuzuki2]

15. I'm going to say something unpopular here

DADT was a positive thing - at the time. It has not been implemented as intended, as Mr Clinton states. It has had a positive effect in the sense of showing that the military has not collapsed merely because gay and lesbian people are serving. However, it's usefulness in that regard is long passed and it needs to be repealed. There is no good reason to maintain such a policy and it's continuation is unconscionable.

[Dappleganger]

16. That is pure BS.

[DURHAM D]

23. You are 1000% correct about the original intent of DADT.

But lies are so much more fun.

Personally before I give a shit about anything someone says on this matter I want to know -

(1) Are you gay?

(2) How old are you?

(3) Were you a gay activist in 1992?

Mostly people just show their profound ignorance and how easily they buy into lies while asserting their smug drivel.

[mmonk]

17. He's still trying to fight those image hits.

[Uzybone]

18. Bubba please

only a fool would believe this.

[DURHAM D]

24. I don't need to "believe" it. I actually lived through it.

What Clinton said is accurate. It just doesn't fit the DU narrative the children prefer.

[cherokeeprogressive]

25. That's what I would say too... n/t

[Radical Activist]

26. But he didn't bother to fix it in the following eight years?

Bill never ceases to prove what a tremendous self-serving asshole he is.

[Unvanguard]

27. Did he read the text of the statute?

:eyes: