On Meet the Press, Senator John McCain again moves the excuse goalposts regarding DADT. He has in the past made bold claims that he would support whatever the military commanders recommended, but as Think Progress notes:
McCain has always said he will reconsider his stance on DADT “the day that the leadership of the military comes to [me]” and says it should be overturned. Yet, when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates came to McCain in February announcing they were in favor of repealing DADT, McCain invented a new condition – the completion of a study the Pentagon is conducting looking into the repercussions of repealing DADT.
Last month, reports surfaced that the study had found that a majority of American servicemembers would not object to serving alongside openly gay troops. Then this week, sources familiar with the study, which is to be released in December, told the Washington Post that the study had concluded that repealing DADT will not disrupt the military during a time of war. But appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press today, McCain yet again moved the goal posts, deploying his latest stumbling block to repeal. The problem? The study McCain demanded is now not good enough:
MR. GREGORY: That said, seven in 10 members of the military think it would be just fine to have it lifted.
SEN. McCAIN: Yeah. You and I have not seen that study. And this study was directed at how to implement the repeal, not whether the repeal should take place or not. But, very importantly, we have people like the commandant of the Marine Corps, the three other-all four service chiefs are saying we need a thorough and complete study of the effects-not how to implement a repeal, but the effects on morale and battle effectiveness. That’s what I want. And once we get this study, we need to have hearings, and we need to examine it, and we need to look at whether it’s the kind of study that we wanted. It isn’t, in my view, because I wanted a study to determine the effects of the repeal on battle effectiveness and morale. What this study is, is designed to do is, is to find out how the repeal could be implemented. Those are two very different aspects of this issue.
Why the perpetual need for a “do over”? At this point it makes no sense to any thinking person. Also, for all of the gays who support McCain (and repeal), how do this reconcile this recalcitrant bastard’s bigoted POV? He most certainly has served with gays; he knows the only excuses left for the discriminatory policy lie not in “morale” or “battle effectiveness.” All I’ve heard so far seems to revolve around:
1. The “soap dropping in the shower.”
2. “Teh homos are going to be looking at my pee-pee.”
3. “I’m going to be assaulted in my bunk.”
These are juvenile, absurd and quite frankly, an embarrassment to those currently serving and working with colleagues who are lesbian and gay (and even out in many cases). How weak must our military be to fall apart and be unprepared for battle because of purported privacy issues? And if there are moral objections, that’s irrelevant. You. Take. Orders. Reactions:
SLDN:
Statement by Army veteran and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis:
“Sen. McCain is clearly out of touch, not only with the American people, but also the Pentagon and our troops. McCain seems to be saying he wants a do-over because he doesn’t like the findings and recommendations in the Pentagon report going to Secretary Gates. In other words, McCain is telling the Pentagon: Keep working until you produce the outcome I’m looking for.”
HRC’s Joe Solmonese:
“Obviously the senator doesn’t like the preliminary findings of the Pentagon’s DADT survey, which found a clear majority of U.S. service members are okay serving with their gay and lesbian comrades. The senator has known all along the study developed by the Pentagon Working Group was looking at how to repeal DADT-not whether to do so.
“McCain has said he wanted to hear from the senior military leadership. He heard loud and clear from Secretary Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, last February when both were firmly in support of repeal.
“McCain has said he wanted to hear from rank-and-file troops. He has just heard loud and clear from them through the survey. But he doesn’t like their answer– and is stonewalling, trying to run out the clock on repeal by calling for congressional hearings.
“The truth is McCain is increasingly alone in his irrational opposition to open service. Sixty-four percent of Republicans disagree with McCain and favor lifting the ban. No matter the evidence, McCain will use whatever tactics at his disposal to not only stop repeal from moving forward, but will hold hostage the most critical military defense bill to do so.”
