McCain backs DADT filibuster

By Michael J.W. Stickings

He's a hypocrite, he's an opportunist, he's a fool -- he's John McCain:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) signaled over the weekend that he would filibuster any measure put forth in the Senate aiming to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" during a lame-duck session following the November midterm election.

The four-term incumbent spoke about the Pentagon policy that prohibits gay individuals from serving openly in the military in a pre-taped interview for Arizona-based station Channel 12's "Sunday Square Off."

When asked how far he would go to prevent an attempt to repeal the controversial policy from being approved in the upper congressional chamber, McCain responded by saying, "Absolutely I will filibuster or stop it from being brought up until we have a thorough and complete study on the effect of morale and battle effectiveness."

The longtime senator said that it doesn't matter to him that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen have both voiced support for stopping the enforcement of the ban on gay troops.

However, back in 2006 McCain communicated a distinctly different stance on the issue when he said, "The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy,' then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it."

Remember when this guy actually had some credibility, or at least when it was widely believed that he had some?

In this case, even the very top people in the military think that DADT should be repealed and that gays should be able to serve openly. And why shouldn't they? Why shouldn't they be allowed to serve their country -- and to risk their lives in its defence?

Is the U.S. military really such a flimsy institution that it would fall apart, morale destroyed, if gays were allowed to serve openly? Are the (straight) troops really so fragile and so insecure that they couldn't handle having gays serving openly?

McCain must think so. Either that or he's just a bigot.