Yes, that’s sarcasm. You’ll remember General Pace of the Joint Chiefs said some months ago in the national arena that he believed gay sex to be immoral. It was thrown back at him that he was anti-gay, and he responded vocally that he believe that the act itself was immoral, but he was not opposed to people with SSA serving in the military. Well, he was prodded on the statement again, and he responded:

Pace, who retires next week, said he was seeking to clarify similar remarks he made in spring, which he said were misreported.

“Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in the military? Yes,” he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing focused on the Pentagon’s 2008 war spending request.

“We need to be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars and being very conscious of it,” he added. “And that is, very simply, that we should respect those who want to serve the nation but not through the law of the land, condone activity that, in my upbringing, is counter to God’s law.”

Anti-war protesters sitting behind Pace jeered the four-star general’s remarks with some shouting, “Bigot!” That led Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to abruptly adjourn the hearing and seal off the doors.

“I would be very willing and able and supportive” to changes to the policy “to continue to allow the homosexual community to contribute to the nation without condoning what I believe to be activity – whether it to be heterosexual or homosexual – that in my upbringing is not right,” Pace said.

Liberal Democrat Senator Harkin of Iowa had some interesting response:

“It’s a matter of leadership, and we have to be careful what we say,” Harkin said.

Pace noted that the U.S. Military Code of Justice prohibits homosexual activity as well as adultery. Harkin said, “Well, then, maybe we should change that.”

There’s your Democrat platform for ‘08 folks! Elect Democrats and the folks in the armed services can have sex with whoever the heck they want without any fear of reprisal.

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