DADT

• Hey, guess what? Tim Pawlenty is running for president.
• Police wanted to charge many of those involved in helping Rifqa Bary run away with crimes, but prosecutors have refused to do so.
• Herman Cain says the race card has expired.  Good to know.
• Wow, Donald Trump is just a joke.
• Janet Porter is hosting a "Heartbeat Bill Summit" on April 4.
• Speaking of Porter, she has this to say about the earthquake in Japan: "Another type of darkness in Japan should be of great concern to us. That’s the spiritual darkness that covers this island nation."
• The first confirmed speaker for Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Summit is ... Dick Morris.  Wow, what a coup!
• Quote of the day from Bryan Fischer: "We’re going to get the worst of both worlds with the admission of open homosexuals into the ranks: virile straights aren’t going to sign up, and fewer homosexuals will since they lost their get-out-of-jail free card when DADT was repealed. They can’t try it and decide they don’t like it any more. We’re going to be left with a weakened, effeminate, dumbed-down military."
• Finally, Karen Santorum shared parenting advice with James Dobson on his radio program today and warned that the Devil tries to make stay-at-home moms second-guess their decision:

As the military begins to implement the repeal of the discriminatory Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, repeal opponents continue to argue that allowing gay service members to serve openly will bring about the collapse of the military. Don Feder of the ultraconservative World Congress of Families spoke to Jerry Newcombe of Coral Ridge Ministries about how the repeal will devastate the military:

Newcombe: And it’s interesting when you were talking earlier about how sometimes the homosexual activists will engage in intimidation process, I think that same thing’s happened in the military. Where now, the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy has been rescinded and we have yet to see what’s going to happen, but I know this is not going to be good for chaplains, for example, who believe in conservative, traditional values as found in the Bible.

Feder: Well, it’s not just chaplains. Jerry, if you look at people who’ve made a career of the armed forces, they tend to come from conservative backgrounds. They tend to share our values, not just patriotism but right across the board, including family values. I think what you’re going to see is a very quiet, long-term attrition. People aren’t necessarily going to resign but when they’re reenlistment is up, they’re simply going to choose not to reenlist. In fact, in a number of surveys, people who’ve made a career of the armed forces have said just that. Last fall, before all of this went down they said if Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed they’d be far more likely not to reenlist.

However, there is simply no evidence to back up Feder’s assertion. The Defense Department’s own study into the impact of repeal concluded that the “risk of repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to the retention of enlisted personnel is LOW, and the risk to retention of officers is higher, in the range of LOW–MODERATE.” The Palm Center similarly found that retention rates will not be affected if gays are allowed to serve openly. Despite such overwhelming evidence, many right-wing activists continue to employ such scare tactics in order to push the Republican campaign to block implementation of the repeal.

There are few "mainstream" anti-gay activists operating today that can match Matt Barber for shear anti-gay vitriol.  In fact, it was his attacks on gays that turned Barber into a Religious Right celebrity in the first place, eventually landing him a job with Concerned Women for America before Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel lured him away and gave him a position as Associate Dean at Liberty University and Director of Cultural Affairs with Liberty Counsel.

And Staver snapped up Barber because he shares his anti-gay views and because of their endless anti-gay attacks, Liberty Counsel found itself on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of anti-gay groups.

So, of course, Rep. Michele Bachmann has tapped Staver to come and teach her Tea Party class to members of Congress ... after, of course, she joins him for the upcoming Awakening 2011 conference, along with Newt Gingrich:

Staver joins David Barton and Jay Sekulow as anti-gay Religious Right activists that Bachmann has sought out to teach her Tea Party class on the Constitution. 

On Friday, possible presidential candidate Herman Cain appeared on Bryan Fischer's radio program again and Fischer lamented that most of the potential GOP candidates had been either silent or rather muted in response to the news that the Obama administration would no longer defend DOMA in court.

So Fischer asked Cain for his take on the issue and Cain asserted that it was "bordering on treason":

Fischer: I want to give you an opportunity, Herman, as a possible 2012 candidate: what is your take on President Obama's refusal to defend the institution of natural marriage?

Cain: I think it is a breach of presidential duty bordering on treason. The oath of office by the president says that he will protect, observe, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, which means all of its subsequent laws. The fact that he says that he has asked the Department of Justice not to enforce it, to me, is a breach duty as President of the United States.

After the brouhaha over GOProud's participation in this year's CPAC finally died down, new American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas started suggesting that the gay conservative group might not be welcome at next year's conference, saying that groups that support issues like the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell or gay marriage which are "not within the scope of what we believe the three legs of the stool of the [conservative] movement" will not be allowed to sponsor the event.

GOProud's Jimmy LaSalvia tells CNN that, given this new standard, he expects that he group will be back next year because a) DADT repeal is over and done and b) they think marriage should be left to the states ... and then goes on to assert that they support the repeal of DOMA and oppose a Federal Marriage Amendment: 

GOProud only works on federal issues. We believe that marriage and family laws should be the province of the states – as has been the case since the founding of our nation. We believe that states should be free to make decisions regarding marriage and family laws without the intervention of the federal government. The decisions of each individual state should be respected by the federal government. This is the essence of federalism. Accordingly, we support the repeal of DOMA, and oppose any effort to pass a Federal Marriage Amendment to the US Constitution.

Ummm ... I'm pretty sure that the Religious Right groups who caused this CPAC fuss in the first place consider DOMA and a marriage amendment to be key parts of the social conservative leg of the three legged stool.  

Given that Cardenas has made it clear that re-unifying the conservative movement at CPAC is a key priority, it seems hard to imagine how GOProud would be invited back next year when they are openly opposing things that are key Religious Right priorities.

Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr. (R-CA) joined Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association to discuss his legislation to block the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT). The Congressman believes that even though Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen supported the repeal, his new bill will require the more skeptical military officials to sign on to the repeal as well. Hunter criticized the repeal during the congressional debate, saying that the military is “not the YMCA,” and said that if the House does not pass his bill he will try to pass it as an amendment on military appropriations. Later in the interview, Hunter agreed with Perkins that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’s repeal is simply part of the left’s agenda “to use the military to advance a social policy.”

Other Republican leaders including Tim Pawlenty and Mitch McConnell have also supported efforts to obstruct the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Watch:

• PFAW: House-Passes Devastating Amendment in Latest Attack in the GOP's War on Women.
   
• Ezra Klein: Unions aren't to blame for Wisconsin's budget.
   
• Jim Burroway @ Box Turtle Bulletin: KC Vigil To Tell Lou Engle to Stop Exporting Hate to Uganda.
   
• Steve Benen: Rove to GOP base: It's a trap.
   
• Ryan J. Reilly @ TPM: Palin Knocks Obama For Promoting Breastfeeding, But Declared Awareness Month As Gov.
   
• Alvin McEwen: Family Research Council's 'detailed response' to SPLC's charges leave much to be desired.
   
• County Fair: Beck Modifies Islam And Communism Symbols To Look More Like UN Emblem.
   
• Igor Volsky @ Wonk Room: Christian Post: Military Chaplians Don’t See DADT Repeal As ‘A Big Deal.’

• Justin Elliott @ Salon: Pamela Geller versus CPAC.
• Steve Benen: Taking union busting to a whole new level.
• Joe.My.God: Rumsfeld Endorses DADT Repeal.
• Stephanie Mencimer @ Mother Jones: Tea Party Patriots Investigated: "They Use You and Abuse You."
• Jason Hancock @ Iowa Independent: Pawlenty, Santorum to attend event hosted by Ralph Reed’s Iowa organization.
• Advocate: Tammy Bruce Leaves GOProud Post.
• Igor Volsky @ Wonk Room: GOP Congressman: Gay-Friendly Passport Change Will ‘Undermine The Traditional American Family.’
• Eric Lach @ TPM: Shirley Sherrod Sues Andrew Breitbart Over Video.

• Ron Paul wins the CPAC straw poll and then gets booted off the board of the Young Americans for Freedom.
• John Boehner takes a bold stance regarding the Birthers: "It's not my job to tell the American people what to think."
• Live Action, Susan B Anthony List, 40 Days for Life, Students for Life of America, Concerned Women for America, and the Family Research Council joined together for a protest against Planned Parenthood today.
• Richard Land, Mat Staver, Elaine Donnelly, Gary Bauer, Penny Nance, Tom McClusky, and Tom Minnery continue to press Republicans to stop the repeal of DADT.
• Bryan Fischer is apparently immune to irony as he blasts GOProud for being "bigoted" against social conservatives.
• Finally, what is the difference between Fox News and WorldNetDaily? Nothing.