We Had To Save The Law In Order To Destroy It

Some people might think defending the legitimacy of a particular law in court is the opposite of trying to repeal that law and erase it from the books.

No such problem over at Politifact!

Recently our non-partisan, unbiased friends updated their "Obamameter" ruling on the Presidents campaign promise to repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell law-

"Here, we wanted to note in this update that the 2010 elections haven't stopped Obama's attempts to keep this particular promise. Its rating remains, for now, In the Works."

Or in other words Politifact wanted to reassure their flock that despite the GOP gains in the House, the mission to repeal DADT was alive and strong. Don't give up hope!

In their Pulitzer Prize winning quest to "help you sort out the truth", they forgot to include the actual truth itself. This "update" is simply a rehash of comments Obama made at a press conference after the recent election. There's nothing new. No new facts, no new information, no new policy stance. In reality it's the information that's missing in this rating that exposes the truth.

The most glaring omission in this piece is the fact that the Obama Administration's DOJ attorneys are currently actively defending the ban against gays in the military.

How could Politifact ignore this pertinent angle of the story?

Perhaps it's because in an ironic twist, it's a Republican activist group who originally filed the suit-

"After President Obama clearly stated that his highest priority for the LGBT community was to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', it is quite troubling to see this 'about face,'" said Terry W. Hamilton, national Chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans. "This aggressive move by President Obama's Justice Department seriously undermines not only his commitment to our community and to the defense of our nation, but it also casts doubt on the motives of those at the highest levels of LGBT leadership in Washington who refuse to criticize the President over this double speak."

Shockingly, Politifact doesn't interview anyone from the Log Cabin Republicans for their take on the status of this "promise".

Politifact didn't even attempt to "sort out" Obama's incoherent justification for defending DADT in court, which is that he'd rather end the law through the "orderly repeal process" [the what?] rather than the legal system. Simply put-Obama has to advocate for maintaining the ban in the courtroom so Congress can have a chance to repeal it themselves. This is of course an updated version of the Bến Tre defense-

"We had to save the law in order to destroy it."

Politifact also omitted the fact that Obama doesn't actually need to repeal DADT in order to end the ban on gays. He already has the authority to suspend enforcement. As a recent Newsweek article noted-

"Obama’s other option: simply using his executive power to decide how the laws will be, or won’t be, executed. So Obama could simply order the military to stop applying the law, or to use it much more narrowly and infrequently. “There are a lot of laws on the books he doesn't rigorously enforce,” notes Geoffrey Corn, a military law expert who teaches at South Texas College of Law. “The courts have recognized that while Congress has full authority to pass laws, the president has authority over when to enforce laws,” says Turley."

But such trivial things aren't worthy of mention in a Politifact rating that gives you all the facts.

Another little nugget that failed to make it into the article is that roughly 1000 gay soldiers have been discharged on Obama's watch under the DADT ban that he's repeatedly promised to end.

Maybe Politifact could have interviewed Lt. Choi, seen here singing the praises of Obama's efforts-


How can this campaign "Promise" still be rated "In The Works", as if Obama is diligently working to repeal the law? Despite being an obvious broken promise to the rest of the wolrd, Politifact can't even bring themselves to rate it "Stalled". And not only that, they completely ignore anyone calling Obama out on his failure to act. Politifact doesn't refudiate the Log Cabin Republicans claims, they simply pretend they don't exist and attempt to shove an entirely relevant court battle down the memory hole.


Instead of facts, we're left with a one-sided puff piece that omits pertinent evidence that Obama has failed to deliver on a promise to one of his most reliable voting blocs. Obama's pledge to repeal DADT isn't "in the works", it's undeniably dead in the water.

And instead of any new developments or deviations in policy being the impetus for a change in status, this "update" is merely a chance for Angie Drobnic Holan to deliver a pep talk-

"We wanted to note in this update that the 2010 elections haven't stopped Obama's attempts to keep this particular promise."

Keep your chin up team! We can do it!

This isn't fact checking.

This isn't even journalism.

This is propaganda.