What's Charmaine doin' with AmericaBlog's John Aravosis?

Josh Trevino, Charmaine, John Aravosis Last July ’05 Charmaine traveled with a team of bloggers to the G-8 Summit in Edinburg. The Summit was soon forgotten in the 7.7 blow-up of London. In keeping with the reporting dictum: If it bleeds, it leads.

Anyway, the war on terror came to the England bloggers and made a few, a happy few, band of brothers.

John took a picture of Charmaine in a pub — it was perhaps one of the best photographs of her ever taken by anyone (and she takes a good picture — the camera likes her). And he posted on his site. Gorgeous. Sadly, he removed it when his readership became…animated, over his friendship with a conservative.

Charmaine and John became fast friends fast , as one would expect. Shared danger. Shared experience. Shared pursuit of the truth. John and I know each other only thru email and vector Charmaine. I genuinely like the guy.

And we disagree on most everything political. But John was always a gentleman. In debates and IRL.

One of our disagreements would be homosexuals in the military. I think they can serve their country elsewhere — where I say, “out,” John says “out of the closet.”

And Lieutenant Alexander Raggio’s award-winning paper at the army’s West Point academy brought out our differences. And sharp words from John.

LT. Raggio’s paper is a philosophic defense of allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the armed services. He would advocate dropping the ban on homosexual service.

But our debate turned a unfortunate corner when John’s hair caught fire with the inflammatory “BIGOTED” cliche ricochet.

John’s emotion-laden invective makes him read like a blogger yes, a blogger. But his insults missed his mark — that would be Charmaine and me in his target-rich environment.

Winston Churchill once said that nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.

But I am not exhilarated, even with John’s off-target bigot-bomb.

I am saddened not because he missed, but because he pulled the trigger. Firing into the crowd that contained his remaining conservative Jesus-Freak-friends on the right.

I expected a more reasoned debate from John. I expected more from a friend.

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Thank you (foot)notes:

Alexander H. Raggio’s paper is Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Be: A Philosophical Analysis of the Gay Ban in the US Military. His paper won the prestigious Brig. Gen. Carroll E. Adams Award, and was written up by AP.

Agape Press has the interview with Elaine Donnelly that started all this.

See Charmaine’s post on John Aravosis.

Full Disclosure: Your Business Blogger is honored to serve as the Vice President for the Center for Military Readiness with Elaine Donnelly.

Andrew Sullivan doesn’t care for the gay ban.

Dropping Knowlege has rights and the war.

Pam’s House Blend has more on anti-DADT.

Mudville Gazette has happy place.

The Debate Link has Silenced Soldiers.

Kathy has no worries.

James Joyner has both sides of the debate.