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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Eating Michele Bachmann's Lunch

Sgt. Maj. Michael Barrett, the top non-commissioned officer of the Marine Corps, recently spoke to American soldiers in South Korea about the upcoming repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", and he said, among other things, "Get over it."

Sgt. Maj. Barrett pulled out a small copy of the U.S. Constitution and referred to Article 1, Section 8, and said, “It says, ‘Raise an army.’ It says absolutely nothing about race, color, creed, sexual orientation.” He then asked if everyone in the group joined the Marines to protect their nation, going on to say, “How dare we, then, exclude a group of people who want to do the same thing you do right now, something that is honorable and noble?” Sgt. Maj. Barrett ended his remarks by saying, “Get over it… Let’s just move on, treat everybody with firmness, fairness, dignity, compassion and respect. Let’s be Marines.”

Wow.

(sgt. maj. michael barrett, left,

with gen. james amos)

Sgt. Maj. Michael Barrett, with thirty years of service in the Marines, is the senior enlisted adviser to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos. Gen. Amos, who fought to retain DADT, told the Marine Corps Times that Barrett is "the best of the best".

Among the branches of the American military, the Marines are the most resistant to the repeal of DADT, but Sgt. Maj. Barrett told Military.com that he saw no evidence of Marines leaving because of the DADT repeal, saying, "It is important that we value the diversity and background and the culture and the skills that all the Marines bring to the service of the nation."

Now doesn't that make you feel great to know that we actually have some members of our military leadership who have their heads screwed on right? And doesn't that make Republicans like Michele Bachmann and John McCain, who are already small-minded about DADT, seem even smaller by comparison? And wouldn't you love to watch a nationally televised debate between Bachmann and Sgt. Maj. Barrett over the issue of DADT? We can already see it in our minds: the extent to which Sgt. Maj. Barrett would eat Bachmann's lunch would only be overshadowed by the extent to which Bachmann would still believe she knew more about the military than a marine with thirty years of service.

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