John McCain Continues His Evolution Into Strom Thurmond

McCain Questions Pentagon on Repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ - NYTimes.com: "“I couldn’t disagree more,” Mr. McCain shot back. “We send these young people into combat, we think they’re mature enough to fight and die. I think they’re mature enough to make a judgment on who they want to serve with and the impact on their battle effectiveness.” Mr. McCain, a naval aviator in the Vietnam War who was shot down and imprisoned in Hanoi, then added: “Mr. Secretary, I speak from personal experience.”"

Meh. Part of maturity -- in addition to making decisions about life and death -- is learning to live with people who live life differently from you. And part of the maturity that goes into military service is accepting much less control over decisions about the work you do and whom you do it with. McCain's defense of DADT boils down to this: He apparently believes that members of the military are so prejudiced against homosexuals that they cannot possibly be expected to maintain their discipline and honor in the face of such a provocation. That's a low estimate of the sensibilities of our uniformed men and women, one that's largely belied by the Pentagon's own survey of servicemembers.