Senator John Kerry Stunned by Gates Mullen Dont Ask Dont Tell Attack

Sen. John Kerry took to VetVoice.com Wednesday with his take on Tuesday's "don't ask, don't tell" hearing, saying he was stunned Republican senators would dismiss the support for repeal by Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen as somehow "biased."

Writes Kerry: "This is, after all, Secretary Bob Gates -- a lifelong Republican who was appointed to positions of high trust and leadership by President Ronald Reagan, President George Herbert Walker Bush, and President George W Bush. This is a Defense Secretary who planned to leave government and had to be talked into continuing to serve in a Democratic Administration. He is doing his duty today out of patriotism, not political ambition or partisanship.

"And this is, after all, the same Admiral Mullen who was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President George W Bush. A four star Admiral who has spent 42 years wearing the uniform of his country. He's tough. He's independent. He speaks his mind, and he speaks the truth."

Kerry goes on to campaign for a repeal of the gay ban: "This is not 1993. We have come a long way as a country, and we have come a long way as a military to arrive at this moment when I believe our men and women in uniform agree with the Commander in Chief and with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military is, as Admiral Mullen put it, "the right thing to do."

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