Just having a little fun with news copy. What if the military were discriminating against Republicans instead of gays? What would that conversation sound like? What if we took a New York Times news story and inserted "Republican" instead of gay or lesbian? I think it would sound pretty funny. Here, I did the work for you, the switches are in bold:
WASHINGTON — The nation’s top two defense officials called Tuesday for an end to the 16-year-old "don’t ask, don’t tell" law, a major step toward allowing openly Republican men and women to serve in the United States military for the first time.
"No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens," Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
As a murmur swept through a hearing room packed with Republican leaders, Admiral Mullen said it was his personal belief that "allowing Republican men and women to serve openly would be the right thing to do."
He is the first sitting chairman of the Joint Chiefs to support a repeal of the policy, and his forceful expression of his views seemed to catch not only Republican leaders but also Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who is the committee’s chairman, by surprise.
Mr. Levin, who has long supported ending the law, told Admiral Mullen that his testimony was "eloquent" and praised him for leading on the issue.
In 1993, Gen. Colin L. Powell, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the time, opposed allowing Republican men and women to serve openly but supported a compromise, which was the "don’t ask, don’t tell" bill passed by Congress. Under the policy, Republican men and women may serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation secret.
In contrast to Admiral Mullen, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was more cautious, even as he acknowledged that the question was not whether the law would be repealed but how the Pentagon might best prepare for the change.