John McCain is becoming increasingly unhinged in his unprincipled and incoherent opposition to a repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Witness his performance in today's hearing.
Instead of accepting the opinion of an overwhelming majority of the men and women of our armed forces, in a statement today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain attacked the validity of the report, criticizing it by stating that he "find[s] it hard to view that as a fully-representative sample set." McCain further claimed that "the survey and anecdotal data underlying this report do not lead to one unequivocal conclusion."
MCCAIN: What I can say now, however, is that in addition to my concerns about what questions were not asked by this survey and considered in this report, I am troubled by the fact that this report only represents the input of 28 percent of the force who received the questionnaire. That is only six percent of the force at large. I find it hard to view that as a fully-representative sample set, but I am nonetheless weighing the contents of this report on their merits. What appears clear at this time is that the survey and anecdotal data underlying this report do not lead to one unequivocal conclusion, which is no surprise considering the complex and difficult nature of this issue.
This, however, didn't stop McCain from making his own "unequivocal conclusion," claiming that now is just not a good time to repeal the policy. In making his case, McCain cited data from the very same report he expressed "concerns" about minutes before. According to Senator McCain, the overall views over 100,000 servicemen and women consist of a major oversampling of those who oppose DADT, while the data showing that a majority of Marines and Army soldiers in combat units support the ban accurately represents the views of military personnel.
That's just a drop in the bucket of McCain's bad behavior today. Watch this compilation from ThinkProgress on his general "grumpiness," and his insulting behavior toward Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen.
How very mavericky of him. McCain has lost any shred of credibility he had left in this debate.