Pentagon report will leave opponents of DADT repeal little to work with

[babylonsister]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/11/pentagon_report_will_leave_opp.html

Pentagon report will leave opponents of DADT repeal little to work with
By Greg Sargent


Okay, I've got some more detail for you on the findings in that forthcoming Pentagon report on the impact repeal of Don't Ask Don't tell will have on the military. The upshot: It will leave GOP moderates with no reasons left to oppose repeal.

One of the key findings in the report is that a whopping 74 percent of spouses of military service-members say repeal of DADT would have no impact on their view of whether their husbands or wives should continue to serve. This number comes by way of a Congressional staffer who attended a private briefing that the report's authors, Defense Department officials Jeh Johnson and Carter Ham, gave to Senate Armed Services Committee staffers this morning.

This finding is important, because it undercuts a key argument made by repeal opponents: That having service-members mingle with gay colleagues could worry their families.

Also: The report will also undercut another key argument being made by repeal opponents: That opposition remains strong in the Marines. According to the source, while the report does find that concern runs high among Marines, it also finds that 84 percent of Marine combat corps combat arms units who said they thought they'd worked with homosexual service-members in the past found the experience either very good, good, or neutral.

More broadly, the authors told the briefing, across the entire military, a stunning 92 percent who reported working with people they thought were gay said the experience been either very good, good, or neutral.

snip//

UPDATE, 2:00 p.m.: Another key thing just happened in Robert Gibbs' briefing with reporters: He flatly stated the president believes there's enough time in the lame duck session for the Senate to do what it takes to repeal DADT. That's important: It could increase pressure on Harry Reid to schedule the requisite floor debate.

[brooklynite]

1. Why did they interview spouses?

Was the assumption that the married soldiers were going to be turned gay and get divorced?

[bluestateguy]

2. It might have been a clever tactic

Most spouses are women.

Women are more likely than men to support repeal.

[jpgray]

4. Did you see the figures on Marine combat corps units?

84% who believed they served with homosexual soldiers found the experience very good, good or neutral. Across the board, that figure is 92%.

[msanthrope]

5. Also kills the 'erosion of military family culture' argument. n/t

[impik]

6. Mmmmm...

From the article:

"This finding is important, because it undercuts a key argument made by repeal opponents: That having service-members mingle with gay colleagues could worry their families".

[TheWraith]

7. A lot of enlisted families will live on base housing.

There's going to have to be base housing for gay troops' spouses/partners too, else there would be equal protection issues. Polling the spouses checks out another potential source of friction, to see if they have a problem there.

[whistler162]

3. But that isn't what the report was supposed to report...

according to the more virulent proponents of repeal!

It was supposed to prove their, proponents of repeal, hatred of the members of the military!