Rudy and Romney are campaigning in New Hampshire today. Lately, there's been some controversy surrounding their description of public service. Romney stepped in it when he said his sons were serving the country by campaigning for him. Rudy got in trouble when he said he was basically a 9/11 rescue worker, so all those emergency responders who raced to the World Trade Center minutes after it collapsed, and now have the September 11 equivalent of Black Lung Disease, should just shut up, per Rudy. Both have now tried to spin their way out.
If Rudy and Romney want to meet some true American heroes, people who truly want to serve their country, they should stop by the Human Rights Campaign's Legacy of Service Tour, which is also in New Hampshire today. The tour is part of the campaign to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and is comprised of several vets who have left the military because of the bigoted, dangerous policy.
Both Rudy and Romney want to keep DADT. Funny thing is that both of them used to be supporters of gay rights. Big supporters of gay rights (some of us think they still are, but they're just flip-flopping to curry favor with the far-right that now controls the Republican party). Rudy used to dress in drag and lived for a while with a gay male couple. Romney used to brag that he was more pro-gay than Ted Kennedy. Then both men decided to run for president as Republicans and poof! - or should I say pooftah - both men suddenly found God, and he was a Southern Baptist.
Anyway, back to the tour. Unlike any of Romney's sons - you know, the ones who are making as much a sacrifice as our troops in Iraq by traveling around in a bus campaigning for dad - HRC's Eric Alva went to Iraq. He was the first American injured in the war. He's in New Hampshire today and has some questions for Rudy and Romney:
I call on Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney to justify their support for ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ when our nation is at war. Please explain to the 60,000 gay and lesbian troops on active duty why you seek to dishonor their service. For these candidates running to be the next commander in chief to dishonor the service of men and women standing on the streets of Baghdad and serving around the globe is shameful, and it jeopardizes national security. How can you expect to be the next president of the United States, to represent all the people of our country, and support this discriminatory policy that denies people the right to be who they are and serve openly in the armed forces?
Rudy and Romney won't answer Eric Alva or any of the other soldiers on the Legacy of Service tour. Eric and the other soldiers simply want to serve their country, but Romney, Giuliani and the other Republicans say no because it's what the far-right of the Republican part wants to hear. Rudy and Romney don't care if we have a shortage of troops. They don't care if we have a shortage of Arabic linguists. They don't care if the next 9/11 happens because we haven't translated crucial intelligence that is just sitting on some desk in Washington waiting to be examined. Rudy and Romney are now anti-gay - nudge nudge wink wink - so they support Don't Ask Don't Tell, to hell with what's best for America and our national security.
