"Well Established" Doesn't Mean Right

During yesterday's White House press conference, a member of the press corps posed a question to Press Secretary Tony Snow:

"Reuters reports that while the Pentagon no longer deems homosexuality a mental disorder, this reversal has no impact on U.S. policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving in the military. And my question: Does this also accurately report the position of the commander in chief, or not?"

Snow first deflected the question, saying, ""I will defer all questions about military personnel policies to the Department of Defense." Undeterred, the reporter again asked, ""Has [the president] changed his mind on this or not?"

"The president's positions on all these matters are well-established," Snow said.

Having a well-established position, however, is far from having the right one. In the 2000 Presidential campaign, Bush said that he's "a don't ask, don't tell man." And from that day until yesterday, the White House was officially mum on the matter.

We know there are at least 65,000 lesbian and gay service members on duty today. If Bush isn't going to salute their service by calling for an end to the ban, at least he could salute it with a simple "thank you."

- Steve Ralls