Reason Writers Around Town: Matt Welch in the Los Angeles Times on John McCain's Opposition to Don't Ask Don't Tell
Writing in the L.A. Times, Reason Editor in Chief Matt Welch argues that the Arizona Senator's intransigence on DADT is neither surprising nor new:
On Sept. 22, 2001, as a wounded nation ached for emotional leadership, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) delivered one of the most beautiful speeches you'll ever hear from a politician. It was a eulogy in San Francisco for Mark Bingham, one of the passengers who helped bring down United Airlines Flight 93 on the foul morning of Sept. 11 rather than let terrorists fly the jet into, perhaps, the United States Capitol building. Bingham, a former rugby player who had been a McCain supporter and an active member of the Log Cabin Republicans, was gay. […]
So as McCain has become the public face of the opposition to repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, drawing thinly veiled rebukes even from his wife and noisiest daughter, many people began asking, with a perhaps overdue cynicism: Why is he flip-flopping now?
But this time, he's not.
