Republican Senator Jon Kyl appeared on FOX News Sunday this morning and told host Chris Wallace that the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" could cost American lives.
Wallace asked him to explain the difference between allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the armed forces and racial integration of the military. That's when Kyl ranted about lives being put at stake once the repeal goes into effect:
"From a constitutional stand point, this is not a constitutional right or a constitutional issue as was the issue of racial segregation. I frankly have to follow the lead of people like the commandant of the Marine Corps, like my colleague John McCain, who say when it comes especially to the small units who do the fighting on the ground, that the US Marine Corps, the Army combat troops, who according to the survey taken by the pentagon were 60 percent opposed to this. It could disrupt the unit cohesion. As the commandant said, cost lives. That means a lot to me."
"With regard to the US military, itself, it's got one function. That is to fight and fight well. And maybe to die. And the people who are responsible for that need to make a judgment about whether this will inhibit their ability to carry out that ultimate job that we ask them to do…I look at the combat fighters, the units on the ground…and they say this could cost lives."
Watch a clip of his nonsensical explanation here.