The leaders of America's military have concluded that repealing the policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is "the right thing to do" -- but Senator John McCain (R-AZ) isn't prepared to go along with that advice, no matter what he might have said in the past about respecting their opinions.
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday along with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and testified that the current policy preventing gay Americans from serving openly in the military needs to be repealed because "devaluing them in that regard just is inconsistent with us as an institution."
In response, a furious McCain told Secretary Gates, "I'm deeply disappointed in your statement. ... Your statement obviously is one which is clearly biased, without the view of Congress being taken into consideration."
"You are embarking on saying it's not whether the military prepares to make a change" McCain continued, "but how we best prepare for it, without ever hearing from members of Congress."
As MSNBC's Rachel Maddow pointed out, however, when McCain was asked about DADT during a radio interview last year, he replied that if he had been elected president, "On the day I was sworn in, I would have asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs to conduct an in-depth study and come up with recommendations for me.".....................
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