Nunn in ‘08?
Former Senator Sam Nunn, who famously tried to stop the integration of openly lesbian and gay service personnel into the military in 1993, is hinting that he may run for president.
MSNBC reports that the Georgia Democrat is thinking about throwing his hat into the ring as either an Independent, or part of a 'Unity '08' ticket, being pushed by a group seeking a bipartisan ticket in the next presidential election. "It's a possibility, not a probability," Nunn said. "My own thinking is, it may be a time for the country to say, 'Timeout. The two-party system has served us well, historically, but it's not serving us now.'"
Nunn once toured a Navy submarine, during the height of the 1993 debate on gays in the military, and proclaimed that no straight service member should be forced to share such close quarters with gay colleagues. It became the 'snapshot' seen 'round the world in the debate, and Nunn went on to support "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," as a way to keep lesbian and gay personnel in the closet.
We hope Senator Nunn has revisited - and revised - his position during the last 14 years. After all, American troops are serving alongside openly gay allied troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with little incident. We hope the Senator will announce a change of heart about the ban, and become the latest public official to call for repeal.
- Steve RallsLabels: 2008, in the news
08-21-07
1 Comments
Comments for this entry are closed.Mark on December 31, 1969 at 02.00 pm
Yeah - I remember the infamous 1993 tour, because I happened to be serving aboard that submarine at the time (with a few homosexual crew members, no less). Our command’s “preparation” for this congressional tour was laughable if not downright devious - they had both crews come down at the same time (the boat is normally manned by only 1 crew at a time) during the visit to make it appear as if conditions were significantly more crowded than they are during normal operation. As if these guys hadn’t made up their minds already, this tour was just another sham to appear to present some semblance of objectivity. Also, I was rather disgusted by some of the homophobic remarks made by our Chief of the Boat (the senior enlisted sailor assigned to the ship - who also orchestrated the “packed submarine” charade, likely by order of the Commanding Officer) prior to the tour. Samm Nunn is a southern Dem throwback (much like Zell Miller) who we are better off without in the Democratic Party. I dare say had it not been for Nunn and a few other of his “Blue Dog” cohorts, President Clinton’s original intent to allow gays to serve openly would have likely come to fruition. We can be thankful that a lot has changed in 14 years - such an effort by a new President would likely succeed this time with minimal challenge, but not likely if it’s another Republican (notice how many Republicans showed up to the LOGO debates?)...
——-