Posted on Sep 22, 2015
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From: Salon

More than two decades of experience working on military policy, serving as chief of staff under Defense Secretary Ash Carter at the Pentagon and serving as the undersecretary for the Air Force are apparently not sufficient enough accomplishments to prevent Republican presidential candidates from demeaning your promotion to Secretary of the Army if you are gay.

On Friday, President Obama announced the historic appointment of Eric Fanning to become the first openly gay civilian secretary of any branch of the military. Fanning was described by Defense Secretary Ash Carter as “one of our country’s most knowledgeable, dedicated, and experienced public servants,” but that did not stop former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee from denouncing Fanning’s appointment as pandering to “America’s homosexuals.”

“Homosexuality is not a job qualification,” the right-wing candidate wrote on Facebook following Fanning’s appointment, denouncing “social experiments” in the military. As the Washington Post notes, the Obama administration has six openly gay ambassadors; a gay man serving as the first special envoy to promote global LGBT rights; five transgender men and women who have served in federal agencies, and a full-time transgender staffer in the White House.

“It’s clear President Obama is more interested in appeasing America’s homosexuals than honoring America’s heroes,” the Huckster surmised:

Below is Gov. Huckabee’s statement in response to President Obama’s decision to nominate Eric Fanning as Secretary of…

Posted by Mike Huckabee on Saturday, September 19, 2015

According to CNN, Fanning’s nomination was also questioned by Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, who told evangelical Iowans at this weekend’s Faith and Freedom forum that he worried Fanning’s nomination was meant to serve as a “political statement” from the President.

“I certainly hope that the secretary of the Army is being nominated because the President wants the right person to defend our nation and not because he is looking to make a political statement on issues of sexual orientation unrelated to defending this nation and keeping us safe,” Cruz said. “But as I said, I will wait until his confirmation hearing to assess his record on the merits.”

Fanning’s nomination now awaits confirmation by Cruz and his Senate colleagues.

http://www.salon.com/2015/09/21/mike_huckabee_shows_why_hes_an_absolute_jerk_with_response_to_appointment_of_first_gay_army_secretary/
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SSG Warren Swan
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You can question the timing, you can question his sexuality, but you cannot question his resume, and that alone speaks volumes. The man is qualified. Did his sexuality have to be mentioned no, but had the administration not said something first, and it still came out (which in DC it would), they would've been called out for saying it. This is the same crap when Eric Holder was nominated for AG...Obama's only asking for him because he's black. Not because he had a solid resume. And his replacement for AG, female and black...don't look at the resume and see that she also was very qualified. Or with the invitations for meeting the Pope. Out of 15k people invited, the focus is on the few that aren't "normal". Huckabee there's so many more pressing issues in America than worrying about race, sexual orientation, religion, and a myriad of other things. BTW how did your standing with Josh Duggar work out? He shared you uber conservative Christian views and wasn't a sinner was he? Hoe about the KY Clerk? Worry about governing ALL and placing the best person for the job in there. But at the same time, if it wasn't for affirmative action, in some ways these glass ceilings wouldn't be crushed.
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SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
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SGT William Howell - Are you sure you're in a mixed marriage or is the wife just letting you think that you have a political view point (just joking). Carson is dead on with that too, but in the case of our glorious legislature, even if you're in the same party you can't agree and if you're in opposite parties you still don't agree. Maybe what we need is for someone to agree to something all the time? I'd like to gripe on that compared to what we have now, where we gripe over nothing at all with nothing being done.
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SGT William Howell
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SSG Warren Swan I believe in all my heart that there is a leader out there that can get Congress to work together. JFK turned this country upside down with the fight for racial equality in the '60s. Not only did he have to work to get Republicans on board, but he had to fight within the Democrat Blue Bloods. He made it happen even with all that opposition. So I know we have had it in the past, maybe again we can have a leader like that again.
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SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
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SGT William Howell - Honest question; and here's my answer before you answer. In the vein that JFK had to work to pull this country together while preparing it for war, he had a charismatic side to him that IMO made folks want to listen and excel. He came from a respected family line of politicians and himself was a combat non draft dodging or using the military as a stepping stone for office war vet, so he knew what the dangers were. This is just me talking. With todays candidates, I don't see them working for "country" I see them working for special interest, big "anything", and those who can give them more money for their parties. I'd like to see another JFK in office (we came close with Bill and Monica to rival JFK and Marilyn). But are we doomed to have another eight years of waiting to see if we can get someone comparable? I'm not speaking of JFK in the party sense, but of JFK the man. I don't see it with the batch of candidates we have now from either party.
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1SG Joseph Yorski, MHS
1SG Joseph Yorski, MHS
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I'll question his resume. Here it is from the Army's own website. Looks pretty light to me and more than a little of it is private sector and political appointments. Decide for yourselves, but it's clear to me this guy's lifestyle choices have more to do with his nomination than his qualifications.

http://www.army.mil/e2/rv5_downloads/leaders/usa/fanning_bio.pdf
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CW3 Network Architect
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For far too long, being gay has been considered to be an automatic DISqualifier for a lot of things. Now they're saying 'See, he's gay, and he got here. Sexual orientation really doesn't matter" and the typical ones who are up in arms about it are giving the usual smokescreen.... Give it a rest.
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Nice try, but no cigar.
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SMSgt Tony Barnes
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Not at all...the timing does seem a little too coincidental that he is the best qualified. Huckabee shows courage to not pander to political correctness.
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"Mike Huckabee shows why he’s an absolute jerk with response to appointment of first gay Army secretary"
LTC Bink Romanick
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RallyPoint Shared Content Huckster is an ignorant, prejudiced, homophobic bigot who hides behind religion. Just a grifter.
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CPL Military Police
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You forgot to say, "in your opinion."
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LTC Bink Romanick
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CPL (Join to see) - Since I stated it it's obviously my opinion. Cheers!
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LCDR Naval Aviator
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This asshole 1SG Larry Lunchmeat is clearly a troll. Admins need to get off their asses and ban him already.
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LCDR Naval Aviator
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Yes, the straight guy whose wife is in his profile picture is clearly a militant homosexual. Clearly.
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LCDR Naval Aviator
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Eric Fanning is more qualified to be Secretary of the Army than Mike Huckabee is to be President.
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SFC Keith Bailey
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Have not seen his resume but it would appear that he has plenty of experience for the job. As long as he is fair and impartial in his decisions and is not pushing an agenda that most Americans frankly are sick of hearing about. There have always been homosexuals in the Military. It is now acceptable to be open about it. I am not sure that it is a bad thing. Some of the best Soldiers I had were homosexual. No I did not turn them in. I always felt that every qualified American had a right to serve.
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LTC Bink Romanick
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Ignorance and intolerance knows no bounds!
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Cpl Jeff N.
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Who is the chicken shit admin that deleted my comment about this post? I can repost it until you delete my sign on. if you like.

Can you at least put it in the form of a question and feign some sort of impartiality? I am not a supporter of Huckabee's but the title of the post is the type of red meat RP management complains about all of the time. I know the title is Salon's title but that is no cover for you. Man up RP admin.
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Maj Assistant Director Of Operations
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Fanning handled business recently as the Under Secretary of the USAF. I'm sure he'd do the same working with the Army. Politicians need to worry about whatever their job is suppose to be and let the military take care of business with the bare minimum amount of their input possible.

I'm just glad to see they are picking someone with applicable experience! They should do that with all the jobs in D.C.!
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SSgt Forensic Meteorological Consultant
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I agree with Huckabee and only time will tell about his work as Secy of the Army....
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