OPPORTUNITY MISSED. Republicans fail to scream at the lunacy of drafting women:

A proposal from the chief of staff of the Army and the commandant of the Marine Corps to require that women register with the Selective Service seemed at first like an effort to highlight the absurd end point of the rush to put women in combat, but top Republicans duly saluted and fell in line.

Asked about the proposal at the recent Republican debate, Marco Rubio said that “Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a draft is ever instituted.” He makes it sound as though women would completely miss out should a large-scale conventional war break out and they not be compelled to fight in it through the coercive power of the state.

Chris Christie agreed. So did Jeb Bush, who gamely — and cluelessly — added that “we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military.”

Of course, a political agenda — namely the insistence there is no meaningful difference between men and women, even when it comes to military combat — is the entire point.

This would have been an excellent moment for the GOP debaters to challenge the assumptions of the moderators as vigorously as they did during the infamous CNBC debate in October and present Americans with the opportunity to vote for a choice, not an echo, to coin a phrase.