Progressive hero, Senator McCain is at it again. His legislative priority has become ensuring a steady flow of gushing media praise. And here's his latest bid for some media love.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) is backing a bipartisan bill that would block President Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military.
“When less than one percent of Americans are volunteering to join the military, we should welcome all those who are willing and able to serve our country,” McCain said in a statement.
“Any member of the military who meets the medical and readiness standards should be allowed to serve—including those who are transgender,” he said.
Except, as McCain knows quite well, they don't.
The transgender ban is not due to a morals issue, but to a military readiness issue. We are talking about a population with intensive pre-op and post-op medical needs. And even if we zero in on only those who have not undergone surgery and don't intend to undergo it in the future (and there's no way to be sure about the latter, potentially putting taxpayers on the hook for a small fortune and impacting military readiness), there are still the horrifyingly high suicide rates.
What Senator McCain really wants to do is carve out an exception to military fitness requirements for transgender because that has become a pet leftist cause. But that is neither fair, nor legal.
If we are going to be so enthusiastic about anyone willing to join the military that we eliminate basic medical standards, then the first people on line to benefit from that exemption should be the disabled, who do have full and undeniable legal protection against discrimination.
If McCain wants to waive military standards, then the first beneficiaries should be the disabled.