Barry Goldwater would kick their bigoted butts

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), allegedly once a voice of optimism for repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, called Saturday "a very sad day" before the Senate voted to lift the military ban. John McCain DADT Repeal Reaction: 'Today Is A Very Sad Day':

"I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage," said the four-term incumbent before the vote, according to ABC News. "Today is a very sad day."

Sen. Jon Kyl echoed this view on Sunday stating that the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" could actually "cost lives" by disrupting combat units. Kyl warns 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal could cost lives:

"From a constitutional stand point, this is not a constitutional right or a constitutional issue as was the issue of racial segregation," Kyl told Fox News' Chris Wallace.

"I frankly have to follow the lead of people like the commandant of the Marine Corps, like my colleague John McCain, who say when it comes especially to the small units who do the fighting on the ground, that the US Marine Corps, the Army combat troops, who according to the survey taken by the pentagon were 60 percent opposed to this," Kyl continued.

"It could disrupt the unit cohesion. As the commandant said, cost lives. That means a lot to me," he said.

Arizona's twin embarrassments have really outdown themselves in their shockingly shameful conduct during this lame duck session. They are beyond embarrassing, they are reprehensible.

If Barry Goldwater were alive today he would kick these clowns square in their bigoted butts. The following is a transcript of Barry Goldwater's commentary on the military gay ban that appeared in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times at the time the DADT policy was initially debated. Barry Goldwater on the Military Ban:

After more than 50 years in the military and politics, I am still amazed to see how upset people can get over nothing. Lifting the ban on gays in the military isn't exactly nothing, but it's pretty damned close.

Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar. They'll still be serving long after we're all dead and buried. That should not surprise anyone.

But most Americans should be shocked to know that while the country's economy is going down the tubes, the military has wasted half a billion dollars over the past decade chasing down gays and running them out of the armed services.

It's no great secret that military studies have proved again and again that there's no valid reason for keeping the ban on gays. Some thought gays were crasy, but then found that wasn't true. then they decided that gays were a security risk, but again the Department of Defense decided that wasn't so-in fact, one study by the Navy in 1956 that was never made public found gays to be good security risks. Even Larry Korb, President Reagan's man in charge of implementing the Pentagon ban on gays, now admits that it was a dumb idea. No wonder my friend Dick Cheney, secretary of defense under President Bush, called it "a bit of an old chestnut."

When the facts lead to one conlusion, I say it's time to act, not to hide. The country and the military know that eventually the ban will be lifted. The only remaining questions are how much muck we will all be dragged through, and how many brave Americans like Tom Paniccia and Margarethe Cammermeyer will have their lives and careers destroyed in a senseless attempt to stall the inevitable.

Some in congress think I'm wrong. They say we absolutely must continue to discriminate, or all hell will break loose. Who knows, they say, perhaps our soldiers may even take up arms against each other.

Well, that's just stupid.

* * *

I served in the armed forces. I have flown more than 150 of the best fighter planes and bombers this country manufactured. I founded the Arizona National Guard. I chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee. And I think it's high time to pull the curtains on this charade of policy.

What should undermine our readiness would be a compromise policy like "Don't ask, don't tell." That compromise doesn't deal with the issue – it tries to hide it.

We have wasted enough precious time, money and talent trying to persecute and pretend. It's time to stop burying our heads in the sand and denying reality for the sake of politics. It's time to deal with this straight on and be done with it. It's time to get on with more important business.

The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people's private lives. Government governs best when it governs least – and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone's version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays.

When you get down to it, no American able to serve should be allowed, much less given an excuse, not to serve his or her country. We need all our talent.

If I were in the Senate today, I would rise on the Senate floor in support of our commander in chief. He may be a Democrat, but he happens to be right on this question.

And then he would turn to kick Kyl and McCain square in their bigoted butts.