Rachel Maddow, Leading Pundit on Gay Rights, Sits In on Hearing

WASHINGTON (Feb. 2) – It isn't every day that the nation's top military leaders testify to Congress in favor of allowing gays to serve openly in the ranks.

And so, like countless other celebrities who have made their way up Capitol Hill for a cause, the eponymous host of MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" was on hand Tuesday for what she called "great theater," Washington style.

Amid retired generals, ousted gay soldiers and the Army linguist Dan Choi, who outed himself on her show, Maddow sat with the other media recording for posterity the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, saying he personally believes allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is "the right thing to do."

Frederick M. Brown, Getty Images

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, an advocate of lifting the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday to watch the nation's top military leaders testify in favor of allowing gays to serve openly. Here, Maddow attends a press tour in Los Angeles last year.

Wearing big, geeky blue glasses not often seen in the nation's fashion-backward capital, Maddow declared herself "an outsider" in these parts. Well, not exactly. Though based in New York, the wonkish cable TV host has made a name for herself among left-leaning lawmakers who clamor to be on her show.

Still, being in Washington is different than talking about it.

"I don't go to Senate hearings. All of the protocol on this is new and interesting," said Maddow, who is openly gay and has made lifting the "don't ask, don't tell" policy a staple on her show.

Turning to the substance of the hearing, the progressive partisan said, "It's clear the Republican opposition hasn't changed in character or tone since 1993." Referring to the ranking Republican on the committee, she said it "was striking to hear Sen. (John) McCain literally ask for the 1993 testimony and findings to be reintroduced."

And, in what may be a preview of her show tonight, Maddow declared that things have changed since the last time Congress took up the issue. Back then, military leaders like Gen. Colin Powell disagreed with President Clinton and his bid to lift the ban on gays altogether.

Today, after watching Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates express in "very, very passionate, not-at-all uncertain terms what they think about the policy," Maddow said it's clear they are on the same side as President Obama.

"For the Republicans to try to find distance here between the military and the president, they're 17 years too late. It's actually not the case now."

Maddow was in town to interview Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., about her new Web site where gays can tell their own stories of how the policy has harmed them.