Viddler

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/03/tauscher-end-dadt/

Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) proposed repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which prohibits gay men and women from serving openly. Speaking at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Tauscher said that “there is one last, final barrier that we need to tear down.” “We need to end the `Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ policy,” she said.

In an interview with ThinkProgress after her speech, Tauscher responded to skeptics who think that working to repeal the ban is a “knife fight” that “no president wants to get into,” saying that “times have changed dramatically” and that “a lot has happened since 1993,” when the policy was enacted:

TAUSCHER: So, I think that there’s, a lot has happened since 1993 and I think that even though the atmospherics look the same, a brand new president, you know, at a time when the Republicans are critical of whatever he’s doing, I think that what our job is is to inform people about the current state of affairs. And that is that 75 percent of the American people believe that this is the wrong policy. And that we have a lot of people behind us. And I think Colin Powell, you know that we know that Colin Powell has changed his mind, so I think if we put our package together of information, we do a good job of doing that, I think that people will move along with it.

We asked Tauscher if her legislation would be a “test” for Republicans like Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), who said on ABC yesterday that “the Republican Party has to return to be one of inclusion, not exclusion.” Tauscher responded that “they’re tested every day,” but that she’s “not sure that they’re doing well.” She added that they’re locked in by their “their very rigid far r