Lieberman to Take Lead on “DADT” in Senate

<a href=”http://butt-trumpet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/image5983858x.jpg”>Connecticut Independent Senator Joe Lieberman will be the chief sponsor of Senate legislation to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that bars openly gay men and women from serving in the military.

“I will be proud to be a sponsor of the important effort to enable patriotic gay Americans to defend our national security and our founding values of freedom and opportunity,” he said in a statement Monday in which he noted his longtime opposition to the policy.

“To exclude one group of Americans from serving in the armed forces is contrary to our fundamental principles as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and weakens our defenses by denying our military the service of a large group of Americans who can help our cause,” said Lieberman, who has angered liberals with his resistance to Democratic orthodoxy on issues like health care reform.

The New York Daily News, which first broke the news, interviewed the Connecticut senator about his opposition to the policy, which was crafted under President Bill Clinton in 1993 following a divisive battle over gays in the military.

“My own experience as a member of the Armed Services Committee, visiting our troops on bases here in this country and abroad, particularly in war zones, the most remarkable quality you’ll find is unit cohesion,” the former Democrat said. “What matters is not the gender of the other person in your unit or the color or the religion or in this case the sexual orientation. It’s whether that person is a good soldier you can depend on.”

Joe Lieberman to Take Lead on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in Senate – Political Hotsheet – CBS News.