Line of the day

I was over at Talking Points Memo (which is doing a great job of covering the latest about Giuliani's moneygrubbing and indiscretions while mayor, BTW) and followed a link to a NYT story about some retired generals who've written a letter to Congress urging them to repeal the idiotic "Don't Ask-Don't Tell" law.

Bein' gay and all, I've read a lot about this particular issue, and it's long been reported that most military brass think gays in the military are not a problem. Several times in the late great Randy Shilts' Conduct Unbecoming, he quotes officers saying that they're surprised the ban on gays is still standing. So now some retired brass are asking that the ban be lifted.

But all this isn't the line of the day---no, that honor goes to the tiny-but-perfectly-formed Secretary of State Robert Gates. The line was actually delivered a while back when Gatesy was defending Gen. Peter Pace's remarks about teh gay thing being "immoral." But the NYT recycled it, and it bears spotlighting now.

Are you ready for it?

“Personal opinion really doesn’t have a place here,” Defense Secretary Robert M.
Gates said in March. “What’s important is that we have a law.”

Now THIS is rich. A high-ranking official in the most blatantly lawless, selfishly motivated rogue administration ever is talking about how "important" it is that "we have a law" and that "personal opinion" shouldn't even be considered. Mr. Gates, you'd do well to remind your superiors up in the White House of this fact, next time Bush says he feels it's the right time to bomb another sovereign nation.

Just sayin'.