If you have any doubts that Democrats in Congress are either clueless or gutless, consider this: an overwhelming majority of Americans say they support repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell — even Dick Cheney is for it, for God’s sake — and yet the Dems are stalling.

Obama, in his State of the Union speech, declared his intention to repeal DADT. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff followed up by testifying before Congress in support of a repeal, and chances started looking pretty good for quick action on DADT. Then, you guessed it, “moderate” Dems started getting all nervous and “Welll, let’s take some time to study this thing, because, um, I, uh, you see, we need to go slowly and get everyone in the military’s input on this, and, um, blahblahblahblah ... ”

Defense Secretary Gates slowed things down, too, by calling for a yearlong study of an issue that has already been talked and studied to death for 15 years. And then, in a mind-boggling move, the Dems brought in Joe Lieberman — aka Sen. Droopy Dawg, aka The Guy Who Torpedoed the President’s Top Domestic Priority — and made him the go-to guy to guide DADT repeal through the Senate. OK, now you can probably add another year to the process. Oh, and now the other Joint Chiefs aren’t too sure about it, either — even though just two days ago, more than 100 retired generals and admirals called for repeal of DADT, saying that gays and lesbians should be able to serve openly.

But, as we mentioned, if you want a true indicator of how gutless, clueless, or whatever-the-hell-is-wrong-with-them the “moderate” Democrats are, consider that multiple serious polls (i.e., not conducted by partisan groups), show that the American people support military service by gays by large majorities — 75 percent, according to the latest ABC/Washington Post poll — even including Republicans and conservatives. In North Carolina, another poll by Public Policy Polling, a liberal group, shows that 50 percent of the people, including 59 percent of independents, favor repealing DADT.

The BlueNC website today poses a great question: Why should progressives continue to support the Democrats when they back away from nearly everything they run on? It brings to mind Yeats’ quote, “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

For an extensive look at various serious polls’ findings on attitudes toward gay rights issues, including DADT, go here.