by Erik J.

I used to like Senator John McCain. I remember in seventh grade getting a handout in class of the Democratic and Republican candidates. There was Clinton, Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan… and I remember liking what the chart had to say about McCain. 

Throughout each step of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal process, McCain kept coming up with a new reason to prolong it being from being repealed. He wanted the top military officials to be in favor of it;  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and other Joint Chiefs are in favor. He wanted a study of how military service members would feel about it, and the military gave a positive review. Then he wanted time to study the review. Meanwhile, his daughter came out in favor of repeal. His wife favored repeal, then backtracked the following day saying she supports her husband’s position. He wanted time to read it. 

Now he has his congressional hearings on the report. Today he said his committee didn’t have time to review the report fully, that the sample size was too small (though it was larger than most polling sample sizes that politicians use) and that the report doesn’t say whether it should be repealed. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mullen directly challenged McCain: “Repeal of the law will not prove unacceptable risk to military readiness,” Mullen said.

Courts have ruled “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” unconstitutional. President Obama is in favor of repeal. Congressional Democrats and some Republicans are in favor of the repeal. Most Americans polled are in favor of the repeal. Many Western nations’ armies have had out gay service members for years with no problems.

  
Has McCain lost his mind? His changed views on a variety of issues has been staggering. But it’s his stance on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that drives me crazy. It’s like I’m looking at an old uncle who is quickly getting Alzheimer’s and is devolving into his racist, misogynist 22-year-old version of himself. Once this law is repealed — and it will be repealed, whether this year or this decade — history will judge McCain just as history has judged those who fought against women suffrage and desegregation.
Jon Stewart recently said as much.
McCain likely will be retiring after this term. He certainly won’t run again for president. So why is he fighting, kicking and screaming as everyone else allows the military’s “brothers in arms” be allowed to “like to hold brothers in their arms?”