Admittedly, i was arguing from my memory of McCain’s earlier position; i’ll do a search and see if i can find what he actually said.
Nope. If this guy is going to force patriotic gay americans to live in the closet and live in fear of discharge for living their lives, then he himself has no respect for our troops, IMO.
The Daily Show did a nifty compilation of his recent statements on the subject. Watch them evolve, complete with date stamps. Here’s a link to one NOT on Comedy Central, so people outside the US should be able to watch.
It Gets Worse
What does that have to do with his service and captivity for 7 years in North Vietnam?
I don’t agree with him right now at all, but even so I can differentiate the two, just as I can with Randy Cunningham. Whatever else they did, they served honorably, and do not deserve contempt for their service.
I actually think that for much of the GOP a court overturning it is significantly better politically than it passing Congress. More ammo for “judicial activism” with a side of “TEH GAYS!!!”.
The thing about John McCain’s service history is he’s worn it like a badge his entire public career, as if it automatically confers moral authority. At a certain point, some tarnish begins to form on that badge just through overuse. I’ve certainly not seen many critics treat his service with contempt, but I do see him criticised for perceived hypocrisy.
I don’t really see how he rates active duty service members or veterans being thin skinned on his behalf.
A badge?
More like a cloak intended to be laid over every single statement he makes and every single policy he supports.
Don’t harsh my metaphor, dude.
ETA: To be honest, I didn’t really like it when John Kerry did the same thing. (Although he received a whole lot of contempt from some conservative factions, as I recall.)
He got captured due to his own negligence, was held captive for 7 years, cracked under torture and gave up info on his ship. What part of that is “heroic”?
Even his “refused to be released early” schtick, was a stance that all prisoners at the Hanoi Hilton agreed to. Even then, adhering to the promise was admirable but not really any more heroic then anyone else there.
Yes, his having been tortured is tragic, but less so now that he himself supports the torture of prisoners.
Right, which is why publicly calling a judicial repeal “the worst possible outcome” the way Gates did is such a clever move. Behind the scenes, the administration, the more hawkish Democrats, and the more moderate Republicans can point out that the “activist judge” fig leaf will shrivel to uselessness under the onslaught of a properly clued-in campaign. Granted, the 13 Republican senators whose terms are up in 2014 probably don’t have much to worry about, and I suspect some will retire, but the 2012 elections will have 10 Republican seats going on the block, and 3 or 4 of them will be tough fights. If they can move on this before the break, that’s all they need to stop a filibuster.
The part where he heroically took a piloting job from a more qualified candidate (you know, one who didn’t graduate in the bottom half of a percent of his class) by having the foresight to have his dad and granddad both be Admirals. He also heroically avoided dying when he crashed two other planes in training missions.
Another thread that may be of interest: What is up with John McCain? - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board
See, now if hew was truly a hero he would have used those connections to get out of having to go to Viet Nam by jumping the line to get into the National Guard and then just wandering off aimlessly.
Many of McCain’s actions since being released from captivity (particularly in recent years) point to a severe and largely untreated case of PTSD. In my non-medical opinion, of course.
Is it just my faulty memory, or did McCain’s politics take a serious hard right turn in the mid-2000’s? I seem to recall a much more socially liberal McCain earlier…?
I don’t think he used to harp about those things before, but I also don’t think he was ever in favor of gays serving in the military. For vets his age, that’s probably a pretty common position.
The thing about McCain that makes it seem odd he’s latched onto these socially conservative causes is that he just isn’t religious. He’s not like a Huckabee who derives his social conservatism from his religion.
Oh hell, I’m a 63-year old Vietnam vet and I can tell you I wouldn’t care who the hell was in the foxhole with me as long as he did his job and I could rely on him to be there when the shit hit the fan. I think you’d get the same answer if you asked any soldier today if he’d rather have a straight coward or a gay fighting man next to him.
McCain is a lot older than you.
That’s not the question being asked.
But it’s clear that there are many soldiers, today, who don’t want openly gay people serving with them. That is a fact. Maybe not a majority, but a sizable minority.
I commend you on your enlightened stance, but I don’t for second believe that it is universal either in or out of the service.
Setting the bar a mite high, aren’t you, John? Universal acceptance of any minority group would be hard to find in any segment of the population. So?
I didn’t set that bar. Chefguy kinda sorta did, but he couched it behind a question that isn’t really the question at hand. A less than careful reader of his post could easily assume that he was saying the he was OK with gays in the military and no soldier would have qualms about serving with a gay person.