Leading the Republican pack against DADT repeal is Sen. John McCain, the angry grinch of the Armed Services Committee who trusts homosexuals as far as he can throw ’em. In order to get those conservative base voters, he believes, he needs to show Arizona that he’s the bigot they elected him to be. So how might he keep America’s gays from serving openly in the military?
He could try to force language into the Pentagon’s spending bill, to which DADT’s compromise repeal is attached, that adds an additional step to ending the policy: requiring all four military branch chiefs sign off on the bill. Right now only Defense Sec. Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen have to do so; McCain & Co. could try to get everyone including Marine chief James Conway to okay DADT’s end, which he’s not so keen on. Getting the four military heads to agree would inevitably delay things.
Or McCain could bolster his pro-military stance by insisting on providing funding in the bill for a second F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — even though the Pentagon says it doesn’t want it. But forcing it in there would also force Obama’s hand; the president says he’ll veto any bill that includes the unnecessary expenditure.
And then there’s McCain’s crazy idea to force 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border to play Keep Out. It was proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, and McCain loves the idea. (Nevermind that, according to Sen. Car Levin, forcing the president — the commander in chief — to deploy troops to a certain location would be a first for Congress.)
How about we take this to the next level?
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Each of these ideas, even if they made it through the Senate, could get yanked when the joint House-Senate committee meets to split their differences. But don’t be surprised to see McCain try to pull at least one.
[The Hill]
Cam
Hmmm, if McCain really wants to help out the military perhaps he could start by not continuing to vote against the GI bill that would merely raise the soldiers benefits back up to what they were decades ago. .
As for his stance against gays adopting I would love to hear him answer this question.
Senator McCain, your daughther Bridget was adopted from an orphanage in India as an infant with heart problems. She would have died if she stayed there. Are you saying that if it wasn’t your wife who showed up and happened to adopt her that day, but rather a gay couple that she should have been left to die rather than be adopted by them? And please answer the question while she is in the room with you.
Jorge
Maybe he’ll shut up once his primary is over.k
Brutus
I thought Queerty didn’t want this repeal to go through because without an accompanying nondiscrimination protocol we’ll be worse off.
Shouldn’t they be cheering McCain on?
tjr101
The Republican party is in looney land right now. Believe it or not John McCain is not as bad as his primary opponent JD Hayworth who is a favorite of the teapartiers. Hopefully they both can maul each other to death for a Democrat to emerge victorious in November. Unfortunately, given that it’s Arizona I might be asking for too much.
J. Clarence
Political maneuvering at its best. And it is conceivable that it might work. I don’t think Democrats care more for repealing DADT than they do putting an end to that outdated military program or just dragging out the debate. The army chiefs could also be a big drag, and I think it would hard politically for Democrats to make the case why that provision would be a wasteful idea.
It is really sad to see that McCain has to stoop to this level to try and get re-elected, but he reaped what he sowed, he’s the one that brought Sarah Palin and the Tea Party into our lives.
B
No. 2 · Jorge wrote, “Maybe he’ll shut up once his primary is over.” …. he may not shut up at all and may instead talk about letting the military run the military, how the military is too important to have its budget held up, and whatever else he can think of. Once the primary is over, he’s going to start moderating his positions in order to pick up as many votes from his Democratic opponent as possible. In the primary, by contrast, his opponent is far more right wing than he is.
What could happen is that someone on the “must certify” list will promise that a repeal to DADT will not be certified if the repeal would in fact harm the military (which, of course, a repeal would not do) and that would give McCain cover to avoid a flip-flopping accusation.
AndrewW
The Republicans already have 41 votes supporting filibuster. Plus, Senator Byrd got his “Congressional Review” (aka Veto) and if that’s stripped, he’ll become vote 42.
Will they filibuster? Probably. The way the issue has been framed allows the Republicans to object without even talking about “homosexuals.” They will say “Congress wants to vote to Approve something and THEN look at the results of the study.” That objection is very compelling.
The non-compromise, non-repeal, “Compromise Repeal” is just a charade that fulfills its intention: No DADT action until after the mid-terms. That’s always been the deal. We, the LGBT Community are supposed to believe they gave it their “best shot,” when in fact it’s no shot at all – it is a deferral.
This political charade has been orchestrated by Gay Inc. and the Democrats. It has some people fooled, but not for much longer.
Theresa
@Cam: Amen and Amen! That question is a thing of beauty!
AwkWord-O
I don’t believe DADT should be repealed at this time. Here’s why: I will not fight for a government who will not give me the same rights as everyone else, especially the right to marry the love of my life – who happens to also be a man. As long as we’re still second-class citizens, let them fight their own greedy, unjustified wars. Let’s say DADT does pass…then what? Will they put all us gay folk out on the front lines like they did with black people when they were first allowed to join??? If McCain thought of this, he probably WOULD support repealing the law so they could have us all killed. Let’s send a message to all these white, homophobic devils by NONE of us joining the military until we have our absolute FULL EQUALITY!!!
Chris
“White”?
70% of black California voters supported Prop 8, AwkWord.
I see your point (although personally I think Prop 8 should be repealed for the sake of the gay soldiers whose careers have been destroyed by it) but don’t go bringing race into this. Hate comes in all colors.
Jimmi
@AwkWord-O: Amen!
Bill Perdue
DADT is not repealed although it may be.
Don’t hold your breath.
DADT is a vile piece of legislation signed by Bill Clinton and upheld in court arguesments by the DoJ of the current Bigot in Chief, Obama, using rancid homohating language.
bDon’t be a victim if Obama’s wars to make the world safe for BP and Haliburton.
Don’t enlist, Don’t fight, don’t translate.
B
No. 10 · Chris wrote, “”White”? 70% of black California voters supported Prop 8, AwkWord.” … the actual number is 58%, not 70% and a multivariate analysis showed that the determining factor was religious beliefs, not racial background (the higher number for blacks simply reflects a similarly higher number of church-goers).
http://www.ncsu.edu/stud_affairs/glbt/pdfs/Prop%208%20Report.pdf has the data and an analysis.
Daddy Grace Fish Sandwich
@B, thank you and amen. Good night to all.
missu
Since losing the election John McCain became a frustrated, viciously vindictive, troublemaker! That has a personal vendetta and is only out for revenge against everybody that he deems responsible for his defeat. There’s no doubt that McCain is going to go down in history as not only a big warmonger, what the poorest sore loser of a presidential election.
The Artist
Mr. McCain is time for you to visit a nice white sandy beach. I strongly suggest The United States Virgin Islands. This way you can feel patriotic while you sun ur buns! Well maybe you should stay out of the sun. PEACELUVNBWILD!
Queer Supremacist
His predecessor, Barry Goldwater, had no trouble with gays in the military, and once said “Any real Christian should kick Jerry Falwell in the ass”. He was an American hero.
John McBreeder is a worthless baby-killing piece of shit. Let’s all send him a comb and show him what we think of him.
I will not fight for this country until I am equal under the law. In fact, I’m one same-sex marriage ban away from turning full-blown traitor.
FUNNY GAY SITES
I would like one gay person to tell me why they feel the NEED to openly tell their sexual orientation in the military.
The military is about protecting the United States, not pleasing everyones problem about acceptance.
Gays cans serve in the military, not openly. This is not grade-school.
jeffree
@ funny gay sites:
I hope your pre-tend girl-friend or im-ag-i-nar-y wife or com-man-der sees how much time u spend on gay web sites & click-ing on ghey fo-tos. Im-med-i-ate cause 4 dis-charge and re-fer-ral 2 DOD men-tal health pro-fess-i-o-nals……
Uh oh!
You r so bust-ed.
& of course we have tracked ur I-S-P.
Sil-ky sil-ly gur-ls like you are in no po-sit-i-on to de-fend our na-t-ion!
No wor-ries: Wal-mart is hi-ring!