Sam Stein quotes Rick Santorum at CPAC:
Political correctness is reigning in the military right now. Some people say: [Do] whatever the generals say [on DADT]. I’m not too sure that we haven’t so indoctrinated the officer corps in this country that they can* actually see straight to make the right decision.
*[Per Stein; logically, that should be “that they can’t see straight,” but without a tape it’s impossible to know whether the error is Santorum’s or Stein’s. Of the two, Stein seems the more reliable.]
Maybe dissing the brass is good political strategy for the right wing, but I wouldn’t have thought so. Seems to me this shows the value of DADT as a wedge issue, which makes me want to see a legislative fight before and not after November.
Update Steve Benen points out that the GOP has been making a habit of dumping on the military leadership, even questioning Adm. Mullen’s integrity for his support of DADT repeal. And Steve also points out that the GOP pro-torture position puts the pols at odds with Gen. Petraeus, who used to be their hero.
In spoken English, with the usual stuttering, "they can see straight" can still make sense. Just read it as,
"I'm not too sure that we haven't so indoctrinated the officer corps in this country[, I'm not too sure] that they can actually see straight to make the right decision."
I wouldn't get on someone for a minor fudge like that, the meaning is clear.
This is similar to using the idiom, "I could care less" when the intended meaning is "I couldn't care less" or "I could hardly care less". I suspect that Mr. Santorum was more concerned with the seeing "straight" portion of his comment.
Remember when the right was going on and on about how we should listen to the generals. What a bunch of opportunistic hypocritical scumbags.