McCain on DADT

This is probably the calmest commentary I've seen on John McCain and DADT.

MR. GREGORY: That said, seven in 10 members of the military think it would be just fine to have it lifted.

SEN. McCAIN: Yeah. You and I have not seen that study. And this study was directed at how to implement the repeal, not whether the repeal should take place or not. But, very importantly, we have people like the commandant of the Marine Corps, the three other–all four service chiefs are saying we need a thorough and complete study of the effects–not how to implement a repeal, but the effects on morale and battle effectiveness. That’s what I want. And 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. It isn’t, in my view, because I wanted a study to determine the effects of the repeal on battle effectiveness and morale. What this study is, is designed to do is, is to find out how the repeal could be implemented. Those are two very different aspects of this issue.

I'm not going to get all bent out of shape about McCain moving the goalposts. He's a politician, and one of the cheapest. And, like military establishments from time immemorial, he's fighting the last war: DADT is going to be repealed. That's all there is to it. (I also have to question McCain's basic intelligence: if he actually does filibuster or otherwise manage to kill repeal in the lame duck session, he's further undercutting the government's case in LCR vs. US, which is pretty sad to begin with. Does he even realize that he's not the only player here?

Why doesn't someone deliver to him copies of the 22 studies we've already done?