McCain wants to study troop morale and DADT

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   Mighty Momposted 14 years ago

   In a recent CBS interview, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) said"Now is not the time to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell." Here is a link and an excerpt from the article. Following that is a link and excerpt showing rather overwhelming evidence that DADT is antiquated.
   
   Once again, Mr. McCain shows himself to be woefully out of touch with not only the American people, but with today's military culture and manpower needs. His proposal to study and restudy and examine and reexamine is foot-dragging (and political flip-flopping!) at its best. Not to mention expensive in terms of wasted government resources.
   Man, I am gladder than ever this man was not voted POTUS in 2008!!!
   http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162- … 03544.html
   Excerpt: The Pentagon is set to produce such a study on December 1 of this year - and the Washington Post reports that two sources familiar with it said "the survey found a majority of respondents ... said the effect of lifting the gay ban would be positive, mixed or nonexistent."
   
   McCain said he thinks the report should be subject to further scrutiny, however, and that the Senate should not lift the ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the military during Congress's lame duck session, which kicked off this week.
   
   "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," he said.
   
   Despite his current resistance to reversing the controversial policy, the former presidential candidate has in previous years shown a willingness to eliminate it: In 2006, he told students at Iowa State University that he would support repeal if military leadership said they supported doing so.
   
   
   
   http://www.sldn.org/pages/about-dadt
   
   Growing Military Support for Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
   
       * 73 percent of military personnel are comfortable with lesbians and gays (Zogby International, 2006).
       * The younger generations, those who fight America's 21st century wars, largely don't care about whether someone is gay or not-and they do not link job performance with sexual orientation.
       * A recent article in Joint Force Quarterly concludes, after a careful examination, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly.

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      Old Empresarioposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think McCain cares at all whether or not there are gays in the military. He's distracting us all again with something that affects the .5% of the US population that is actually in the military. He's trying to frustrate Democrats and look "anti-gay" to the conservative voter base.
      
      You are right on the mark regarding him not having the pulse of the military--if he ever did. The life of a navy pilot is considerably different from the life of a foot soldier. The two worlds never mix. And of course, add in the fact that his experience goes back to the 1960s and 70s, and it is clear that he has no idea what he is talking about regarding today's military. Soldiers in the army don't care if people have same-sex relationships and people are crazy if they don't think it exists in the military already.

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   EPmanposted 14 years ago

   I wonder if any soldier would mind having their arse saved from the heat of battle by a homosexual comrade?
   
   McCain is soft on issues and panders to whatever ideology he thinks will win him the most votes.
   
   I am also glad he wasn't elected. Can't say I'm enthralled with the alternative, though.
   
   Anything that doesn't affect a soldiers ability to perform his/her duty should be left alone. To cast out a perfectly able, skilled soldier simply because they're gay is a waste; even worse, it's wrong.

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   Paul Wingertposted 14 years ago

   McCain needs to be put out to pasture. He spends more time coming up with stupid excuses than focusing on the subject.

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   Jillian Barclayposted 14 years ago

   McCain said on Friday during the hearings that DADT should be postponed because the economy is in the tank!
   
   Think he should know by now that line just doesn't work. I feel like I have heard him say that before...
   
   Even Lieberman jumped in and said he thinks both can be done.

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