I fucking hate John McCain. You know, there was a time when I kinda sorta liked him. Not on a political level, but on a human level, because he seemed to be somebody who bucked the right wing on occasion and stood up for what he thought was right once in a while. And I respected that.
Not that we needed any confirmation, but his appearance on Meet the Press today shows that those days (if they ever even existed) are long gone.
McCain tried for years to hide his anti-gay feelings behind the ol’ “When the military tells me we need to repeal DADT, I’ll support repeal” bullshit. Never mind the fact that the military is supposed to be under civilian control – McCain claimed that he wanted the military leadership to be behind open service before he’d lend his support. After over 15 years of DADT being on the books, McCain finally got what he claimed to be looking for: military leadership is finally behind repeal. In addition, the vast, vast majority of the American people support repeal. Defense Secretary Robert Gates supports repeal. The President supports repeal. Majorities in both houses of Congress support repeal. Over 60% of Republicans support repeal. The leaked Pentagon DADT study indicates that 7 out of 10 service members don’t have a problem with repeal. It logically follows that DADT should be repealed and that nobody – with the exception of bigots who don’t want open service solely because they hate gay people – should be against it.
But none of that is enough for John McCain. Gone are the days that he can hide his bigotry behind false claims that he wants the military leadership to be in agreement with repeal because, well, military leadership is generally in agreement. The military itself is generally in agreement with repeal. So now McCain has nowhere to hide his homophobia – unless he could successfully attack and delegitimize the DADT study itself.
And that’s exactly what John McCain is trying to do.
In his appearance on Meet the Press today, McCain was asked specifically by David Gregory whether he’d stand in the way of repealing DADT. McCain’s response was essentially that he will listen to military leaders and not to a “leaked” study. And the study itself does not meet his standards because he claims that it looked at how to repeal DADT rather than the effects of DADT on battle effectiveness and morale:
All four service chiefs are saying we need a thorough and complete study of the effects, not how to implement the 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 look at whether it's the kind of study that we wanted. It isn't in my view.
If you read between the lines of what he’s saying, he’s basically saying that the study will have to be officially released until he will take it seriously. And once it is officially released, McCain will reject its findings anyway, because it doesn’t study what he wants it to study (even though, correct me if I’m wrong, it does show that the vast majority of troops don’t care if gays and lesbians are serving alongside them). Only when another study – one that meets the standards of John McCain and gives him the results that he wants – is completed will he consider supporting repeal. And then he’ll oppose repeal anyway because the study that John McCain obviously wants is a study that will give him an excuse to stand in the way of open service.
Watch the interview for yourself:
We’ve allowed the Pentagon to disrespect gay and lesbian troops by distributing surveys to determine (as Lt. Dan Choi put it on Hardball) their popularity. We’ve spent $4.5 million altogether only to conclude what we knew all along – that most service members don’t give a shit whether their fellow troops are gay or straight. And after all that, John McCain, the great maverick who claims to want only what the military and its leadership want, still doesn’t support repeal. First he claimed that he needed the support of the military leadership; he got it. Then he raised his standards and demanded thorough study; he got it. Now he’s crying about the study not being good enough. It’s apparent that John McCain has no intention of ever, ever supporting the repeal of DADT. Shocker, right?
Oh, and McCain also apparently successfully changed his wife’s position on DADT. Cindy McCain, a supporter (well, once a supporter) of the NOH8 campaign, tweeted on Friday that she stands by her husband’s stance on DADT, in spite of this video in which she appeared:
Fuck John McCain (and his wife, too) – we need to get this done while we can. Clarknt67 wrote a great action diary a few days ago that compiles a list of Senators to call. We need to keep making those calls, over and over again, because it’s not over yet. And this is too important to let a bigot like John McCain stand in the way.
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HRC has responded to McCain's remarks:
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.
And so has SLDN:
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.