Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, using his typical mix of hyperbole and hackery, has labeled Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan an “Anti-Military Loon,” and posted what he claims is a picture of Kagan “protesting against the military at a LAMBDA-sponsored rally at Harvard in 2004.” You will not be shocked to learn that this isn't true. Indeed, his source for the photo exposes his lie.

At that 2004 rally, Kagan wasn't protesting “against the military.” As the Harvard Law Record article Hoft cites makes clear, the protest in question was against the “military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy and the Solomon Amendment's interpretation that requires Harvard to allow military recruitment.”

And why did Kagan oppose those policies? Again, from the article Hoft links to (emphasis added):

“What the United States government is essentially saying to gays and lesbians is that they cannot participate in, they cannot contribute to this incredibly important mission. These men and women, notwithstanding their talents, their conviction, their courage, cannot perform what I truly believe to be the greatest service a person can give for their country. And that's just wrong, that's just flat out wrong.”

So Kagan says that military service is “the greatest service a person can give their country.” Boy, that really doesn't sound like the words of an “Anti-Military Loon.”

Incidentally, Hoft's basis for his claim -- that Kagan “expelled military recruiters from the Harvard campus in defiance of The Solomon Act” -- is also false. When Kagan became dean of Harvard Law, she continued the school's policy of allowing military recruiters access to its Office of Career Services. Only after the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Solomon Amendment was unconstitutional did Kagan prohibit the career office from working with recruiters. As the New York Times noted, Kagan “follow[ed] the law” and “continued a policy of allowing the military recruiters access to students” during this period. Kagan once again granted military recruiters access to OCS one semester later, after the Bush administration threatened to revoke Harvard's federal funding.