Wednesday, October 27, 2010

DAN CHOI: MEDIA BULLY or IT DOESN'T GET BETTER



I know Dan Choi and I know Harry Reid.

Both are former officers.

Only one is a gentleman.

It's not Dan Choi.

Dan Choi has finally jumped the shark with his completely uncalled for remarks about Harry Reid in the Village Voice and I feel sad for the LGBT activist movement and Dan. He has it wrong. Harry Reid is not a "pussy", Dan Choi is.

I personally introduced Dan to Harry over a year ago at a dinner and we were both shocked when Harry told the two of us that he "and the President were working on getting rid of this foolish policy, DADT, because it makes no sense." Harry admired Dan's medals and they had quite a friendly chat.

Since then, with the country in economic ruin and people losing their homes left and right, Harry and the President have still been working on making sure that DADT repeal is moving forward. But it's not moving fast enough for Dan and his puppet masters who have an axe to grind against the Democratic party. So, Dan pulls cheap stunts such as making Netroots Nation all about him by climbing on the stage to give his West Point ring to Harry.

I will fill Dan and his army of sycophants in the blogosphere in on something. If Harry didn't want Dan to have that moment, his security detail would have taken Dan down like a Predator drone on a car full of insurgents on a Basra back road. Dan came off the stage proud that he had hijacked the day of a room full of people, I was proud that Harry handled this public pout with aplomb and grace.

Like a gentleman.

When I saw the awful things that Dan said about Harry in the Village Voice, I thought to myself, "what an idiot". Then I realized that Dan is no idiot.

He's a bully.

If the light isn't shined on him and Rachel isn't calling regularly, something must be done, and right away.

For Lt. Dan Choi, it doesn't get better.

And it won't because once it does, he floats down the stream with all of the flotsam and jetsam of history. He is grabbing his moment in the media glare and I hope he enjoys it because it's minute 13 as we speak and there's a shark that he just jumped behind him.

5 comments:

Jeremy Johnson said...

You're pragmatically correct, but everybody loves a rock star and Dan is that. He's motivated more people to join the fight, even if only long enough to see what the real fight is and who the real stars are. I give him credit for taking the heat of his own actions and yes, I, as DADT veteran, despise his tactics and his disregard of what being a uniform is about, but as an activist, he was willing to step outside the lines and make people take notices. I have people with no clue about DADT asking me about Dan Choi and it's always a gateway... an apologetic one, but there nonetheless.

NG said...

With all due respect, of course, isn't "the now is the right time," my phrase, not yours, a cop out?

I'm not disagreeing here. I've been calling out Choi myself for months, and my reward is I got thrown under the bus.

I'm just saying, it's rather ironic that you are coming to this conclusion now.

Argyle McBee said...

Oh, boo hoo, Dan isn't acting exactly how you'd like him to act. I live in Nevada, I lost my home to foreclosure, and no one did a damned thing about it, nor are your heroes, Barack & Harry doing anything about DADT, except making sure that it never goes away. (hey, let's survey all the homophobes in the military and see how they feel about letting gay people in - isn't that just a swell idea?) Without Dan Choi, we wouldn't get the publicity that we have.

And, Jeremy, Dan's "disregard of what being a uniform is all about"? Seriously? Is being "a uniform" all about getting kicked out of the military, even though you have an exemplary record, and taking it laying down? Should Dan say, "Thank you, sir, may I have some more second class treatment?"

Harry Reid is a big boy, and he's been a politician a long time, and I think he can certainly handle a gay boy dissing him. If he can be such a pussy about some of Sharron Angle's lying commercials that he doesn't counter, he can clearly handle Dan Choi's disgust with the fact that Obama & Reid obviously don't give a shit about their LGBT constituents.

I can't believe that ANYONE can blame a guy who is angry about losing his career because he's gay. As long as Dan Choi doesn't commit any crimes (other being gay, of course), I don't care how much he embarrasses the politicians who have pretty much assured us of being stuck with DADT until the next Democrat is President. Obama certainly won't be doing anything other than fighting its repeal (because he "has to", huh? Right), and since Obama's been such a crappy ass wishy-washy President, I doubt he'll be re-elected, so we'll probably have DADT for at least another 7 years. And you're mad at Dan Choi??? Give me a break.

Laura Martin said...

Argyle, your comment was so stupid it almost doesn't deserve a response

Harry and Barack haven't done anything about foreclosures? Lie. Did you call Harry's senate office and ask for help? Did you call your Representative's office (Dina or Shelley) and ask for help? Or did you just sit on your ass and cry.

The DADT survey was to figure out how the military would adjust and how commanding officers could help it adjust once DADT was repealed. Again, your comment about that is just more lies.

How dare you support Dan Choi and his use of the same homophobic language that keeps him from serving in the military. It's his attempt to get more media attention, that is not activism.

Argyle McBee said...

Laura, until you experience foreclosure yourself, stfu. Your assumptions are incorrect, but I'm sure you felt much better posting them. Yeah, truth is, I did cry. I lost my house, not because I bought more house than I could afford, I lost it because I had back surgery, outrageous medical bills and then lost my job.

Yes, we need to survey the military to see how to let gay people serve like they've been serving since the beginning of time? There have always been gay people serving, there always will be, and most people don't give a crap unless they're hateful bigots. So, we don't need to know how hateful bigots think openly gay people should serve. The answer is simple, they should serve like they always have, except they shouldn't have to lie about their partners or the mere fact of just being gay. Yeah, I'm sure we had to ask military racists just how we should allow black men and women to serve, because their ideas would be so revolutionary.

I have a fabulous idea - how about we let any qualified individual serve, and we let the homophobes, racists, etc., get some therapy if they can't stop thinking about other people's sex lives or the color of their skin or the fact that they might like different books, music, or food than you. Because other than the people we choose as partners, there's not a damn bit of difference between any of us.

There isn't a damned bit of difference between gay military people and straight military people, other than the differences that all people have.