McCain Thinks 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' Has Been Working Just Swell
On This Week with George Stephanopoulos John McCain is asked what he thinks of the military's policy "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy toward gays and lesbians:
Stephanopoulos: How about this issue of Don't Ask Don't Tell? It's now been the devil in the military for fifteen, sixteen years right now. Growing support to reform the policy. More than a hundred members of Congress say it should be reformed. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs like General Shalikashvili have said it should be reformed. Where are you on that today and how would you reform the policy if at all?
McCain: Again I've said for months, I'll be glad to have a thorough review of the policy by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and their recommendations. You might recall it was General Powell who weighed in early on back in the Clinton administration and said we need to have this policy and it's been successful. We now have the best trained, best equipped, most professional military in the history of this country in my view. So I would rely on a study by the Joint Chiefs of Staff as how the impact of changing this policy would have on our ability to carry out our military missions and then I would make judgements from there.
But in all due respect, right now the military is functioning extremely well in very difficult conditions. We have to have an assessment on recruitment, on retention and all the other aspects of the impact on our military if we change the policy. In my view, and I know that a lot of people don’t agree with that, the policy has been working and I think it’s been working well.
I'm sure Daniel Choi would disagree with Sen. McCain. As Think Progress notes:
Choi isn’t alone. Since 1994, DADT has resulted in the discharge of more than 13,000 military personnel across the services, including approximately 800 with skills deemed “mission critical,” such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists. According to a 2005 report from the Government Accountability Office, “the cost of discharging and replacing service members fired because of their sexual orientation during the policy’s first 10 years totaled at least $190.5 million — roughly $20,000 per discharged service member.
It’s unclear how these facts led McCain to conclude that the policy is “working well.”
...the GAO also noted that nearly 800 dismissed gay or lesbian service members had critical abilities, including 300 with important language skills. Fifty-five were proficient in Arabic, including Copas, a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in California.
Discharging and replacing them has cost the Pentagon nearly $369 million, according to the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
ahhh, sweet success, eh mccain?
Yeah right. I'm sure this stupid old fool has interviewed many gays and lesbians to reach his conclusions.
I never thought I'd say this , but our former President, a psychopath and lying genocidal murderer, deserves credit for keeping his blood sipping mouth shut, unlike Cheney and Grandpa.
Now McCain has weighed in.
Obama doesn't seem to place a whole lot of importance on it either, beyond the words he said a few days ago.
Viva la difference!
Listen dude, we've already made the Grandpa, Obama comparison and contrast.
Do you play the lottery after the numbers have been drawn?
I wouldn't play a lottery where there are only two possible numbers and each one is a loser.
You perpetual "black cloud" guys probably complain at your wives five seconds after your orgasms.
Crap. started a reasoned response and then I looked at your comment a second time.
Zero substance. Personal insults based on, well based on nothing as usual. Not even the topic.
Very consistent L&L.
...ignorant and misinformed remarks...a method you consistently use.
.
"Tomorrow is zero hour..." ~ Translated 09/12/01 - sent 09/10/01
A few more translators not thrown out due to their sexual orientation could have changed everything, but some people prefer to keep the USA not so safe.
Yes John, we're listening...
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Save the World.
were graduating at the bottom of his class at navy, almost sinking the USS Forrestal, crashing a jet per year of flying, getting shot down and captured by the enemy... maybe we should be "weary" of his definition of "success."
I am just saying...
BTW, why the f*ck do I get a McCain ad in this thread? Anybody else getting the same "Country first, will allow us to strengthen our party" ads with McCain creepy yellow teeth smile?
The Christofascist lunatic also thinks that asking kids not to fuck each other also works. These rightards are totally unconnected with reality, they're all soaking in their theofascist god delusions.
Note the reference to Powell having supported the policy. The only reason to bring that up is to continue the bloody (and I would say underreported) war taking place in the Republican party between moderates and wingnuts. Note how Cheney, just a day or 2 earlier, said he would side with Rush Limbaugh over Powell, and questioned whether Powell isn't now a Democrat anyway. It seems like a coordinated battle on the wingnut side of this war, and in this case McCain seems to be trying to curry favor with the wingnuts who usually don't trust him.
for 14 years now.
What the hell is the Pentagon's problem with gay people?
Secondly, isn't this kind of discrimination illegal, as the military is part of the federal government?
this is part of the hypocritical identity crisis the so-called "conservatives" have themselves in. they're
NO longer interested in individualism and personal freedom but more interested in BIG government and
social issues. in order to keep their evangelical base interested they feel a need to have an on-going attack regarding" the gay" issue. the RIGHT have become the party of hypocrites. they are interested in
POWER at the expense of others,NATION building,bigger government and pushing social issues. without this movement against gays in the military/same sex marriage some of these people would likely leave an already shrinking (r) party.
that Amos N Andy is a fine radio program that everyone can enjoy.
And that the Brooklyn Dodgers will win the penant this year.
What an out of touch, dried up old fart.
he is.
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
lol!!!
winning the pennant is not quite what it used to be, and after TV came in they replaced the original Amos and Andy with black people. At least we can count on McCain as a constant.
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
...if you ask your wife nicely, maybe she'll buy you a helicopter that you can fly away in.
not queer, and without empathy for anyone not him, or at least LIKE him, I can see no reason why he'd think otherwise.
Total dick.
me-oww!
We now have the best trained, best equipped, most professional military in the history of this country in my view.
But stick a gay man in there and it all falls apart. A professional soldier can accept people trying to kill him/her, but put them next to someone who is a homosexual and they won't be able to handle it. From that it wouldn't seem a too distance past that they would have barred someone because he/she might have teh cooties.
The phobia is absurd, grow up and join the rest of us in the 21st century.
We give our military men deadly weapons and train them to be prepared to kill enemy soldiers and make life and death decisions every day, but we still insist on letting them keep their prejudices with regard to gays and lesbians. If they're not mature enough to be able to mentally wrap their minds around the sexual orientations of their fellow soldiers and can't get over it, then we sure as heck shouldn't be expecting any superior level of maturity on their part when we put guns into their hands and ask them to go out and kill other people for the presumed security of our country.
If they can't do the one thing, then we shouldn't be expecting much of anything from them, and they should immediately be discharged, dishonorably.
He's not gay, he's not in the military anymore. And he looks out for number one (himself), so he can't be arsed to advocate for other people, despite his favorable position to do so!
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
I wonder if McCain understands there are gay doctors, lawyers and all other professions and last I heard, the world was still turning just as it should.
It truly is insane to remove someone from a highly important position simply because he or she is gay. No one can produce a rational reason for doing that, no one!
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
When McCain was a POW if someone had come to rescue him, would he have refused to go with them just because this person was gay? I doubt it.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Not only that, but I wonder if there were any gay POW's where he was at?
McUberDumbass should retire to the Crawford Ranch and start hacking that brush. Looks better in a new Stetson, ask George.
Everything is swell and McCain has been sleeping like a baby.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
You lost. Campaign's over. Now get out from in front of the camera and back to the senate and get to work on behalf of the people of Arizona and let the elected president of the United States take care of this.
In other words, John McCain, you think it's just fine to populate the military with convicted felons and criminal gang-bangers who tag Iraqi private and public property with gang grafitti (adding to the hatred most Iraqis have for the U.S. invaders), but a special study must be made to see if retaining highly-qualified homosexuals such as Choi will be harmful? What is wrong with Republicans? Are they all insane or just stupid?
... if the intent is to create people 'in their image'. That is liars, deniers and deceivers. What do enlisted men talk about in their barracks? Their women, their wives, their girl friends, their concubines and prostitutes. What does the gay man do? Leave the conversation or lie about his personal life. Isn't that what 'republican' is all about? Isn't that what 'religion' is all about?
Inquiring about a soldier's marital status - could this not be construed as DADT? Does DADT apply only to gays?
If you need funds to pay for essentials, you have a revenue problem
If you need funds to pay for frivolity, you have a spending problem
"Don't ask, don't tell" has worked well, if you're talking about the media's refusal to investigate Songbird's military records.
If McGainsay's hotheadedness, the dislike of him by others at the Naval academy and his actions while a PoW (and how he earned his nickname), he would have been run out of office years ago, never mind being able to run for president.
Am glad we didn't let this stupid old fool get any closer to the whitehouse!
To bad the people of Arizona can't see what a fool they have in mcsame!
"bedeviling", not "the devil in..."
don't get it! Why is there so much fear about gays in the military? When I was in the army between 1966-68 I was stationed on a Nike-Hercules missile site and we had 2 gays in our battery and guess what? These gay soldiers NEVER had sex in the barracks and they NEVER tried to solicit sex from any of the others soldiers, who were stationed with them ,so the "don't ask, don't tell" nonsense is just that-nonsense!
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