Led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Congressional Republicans are engaged in an all-out assault on legislation that would end the legal mandate for the military’s ban on openly gay troops.  Still, repeal advocates say they expect to prevail, citing support from majorities in the House and Senate, and the overwhelming support of the American public.

McCain yesterday circulated letters he requested from top officers of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines urging Congress not to act until the Pentagon completes a study on implementing a change in policy.  But hours later, repeal opponents countered with a letter from retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, dismissing the service chiefs’ arguments.  ”It is not only preferable, but essential that [the law] be repealed in order for the Service Chiefs to retain the very authority they require to do their jobs effectively,” Shalikashvili wrote.

The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, echoed Shalikashvili yesterday, saying he’s comfortable with the repeal effort underway in Congress because of “very clear language” that gives him, the secretary of defense and the president the authority to lift the ban only when they determine the military is ready for the change.

Roll Call reported GOP senators are even willing to mount a filibuster against the defense authorization bill, the legislative vehicle to which the repeal language would be attached.  Asked whether he would actually block a bill that authorizes money to support military operations, McCain responded “without a doubt,” adding, “I’ll do everything in my power.”  But Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has his doubts about the threat.  ”It’s rather extraordinary to filibuster the defense authorization bill. … Even if they make the threat, I would assert that they could not sustain a filibuster,” Sarvis told Roll Call.

R. Clarke Cooper, the new executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, said McCain is wrong to oppose the repeal compromise.  ”It is unfortunate that Senator McCain has reversed his historic position on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Joint Chiefs Chairman, Admiral Mullen, public opinion polls, and service members themselves all agree it is time to repeal this arcane personnel policy. As a fellow combat veteran, I implore Senator McCain to be on the right side of history and vote to repeal DADT,” Cooper told GayPolitics.

In the House, repeal opponents led by military veteran Pennsylvania Democrat Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., expect solid support will make it easier to attach a repeal amendment.

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey out today finds 78% of Americans support allowing openly gay people to serve in the military.  The news comes as a few key senators are considering whether to back a new deal to repeal the law that mandates the policy.

Still, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is accusing the Democrats of trying to “jam” through repeal language worked out yesterday in meetings on Capitol Hill and the White House.

McCain may not have read the language in question.  In fact, what’s being considered in Congress this week does not repeal the military policy.  Rather, it’s a compromise that returns authority to alter the policy to the military itself, which is exactly where it was before Congress enacted the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law back in 1993.

McCain’s grumpiness over even this slight movement toward lifting the ban is shared by a number of activists on the left who understandably don’t think it goes far enough.  They would have preferred Congress mandate a new policy, with a strict prohibition on discriminating against gay and lesbian troops.  Pam Spaulding has a nice wrap-up of their arguments.

Out Massachusetts lawmaker Barney Frank thinks Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ proposed year-long review of the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell policy” is nothing but a delay.  Rep. Frank told Michelangelo Signorile in a radio interview on Friday that if Congress has any hope of repealing DADT in 2010 – as Obama has instructed – then the review needs to be shortened.

“As quickly as we can do this it will be toward the end of the year,” Frank shouted to Signorile, “so Gates has plenty of time to study whatever the hell he wants to study.”

Frank also went after Sen. John McCain in the interview, who has joined ranks with popular Republican opinion that lifting the policy could disrupt unit cohesion as we engage in two wars.

“And that John McCain…I think the last vestiges that John McCain is an independent guy ready to resist the right wing should be buried,” said Frank.

The Hill reports:

President Barack Obama announced in his State of the Union address he backs a repeal of the policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen also said be backs ending the policy at a hearing on Capitol Hill this week because it is “the right thing to do.”

Gates also said he backs a repeal, but he announced a year-long Pentagon review of the policy this week intended to intended to identify how the military would implement the policy without disrupting unit cohesion.

The move answers Republican complaints that lifting the ban on openly gay service members could ruin the camaraderie among soldiers in the field. Some Republicans have also said that now is the wrong time to nix “Don’t ask, don’t tell” because the military is engaged in two wars.

The Log Cabin Republicans faced a backlash from across the blogosphere after defending the John McCain’s use of homophobic robocalls.According to Politico, McCain’s campaign sponsored a series of phone calls to Florida voters saying, “”Mitt Romney thinks he can fool us. He supported abortion on demand, even allowed a law mandating taxpayer-funding for abortion. He says he changed his mind, but he still hasn’t changed the law. He told gay organizers in Massachusetts he would be a stronger advocate for special rights than even Ted Kennedy. Now, it’s something different.”

The Blog Cabin blog asserted that “gay Left” are out of bounds, given that McCain ordered a halt to the calls and that Democratic candidates’ gay missteps have not been pounced on to an equal degree. The post states:

Had anyone bothered to reach out to the McCain Campaign, they would have realized Sen. McCain immediately stopped the calls. The campaign told us Sen. McCain never saw the script and never approved it, which is why he stopped the calls ASAP.

Of course, those facts won’t satisfy the left-wing who pounces on these kinds of things. But where were these same left-wingers when Democrat Barack Obama, who has never introduced a single piece of pro-gay legislation in his Senate career, paraded around on stage with an anti-gay religious leader who believes in so-called “conversion therapy”? Where were they when Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton couldn’t bring herself to denounce Gen. Peter Pace’s anti-gay remarks last year? Where were they when Obama proposed meetings and negotiations with the gay-murdering president of Iran?

We can’t defend the McCain staffer who initiated these short-lived robo-calls, but let’s hold both sides accountable, folks!

The reaction has not been kind. A variety of LGBT blogs including Pam’s House Blend, Joe My God and Towleroad took issue with the statements. Under a post titled Log Cabin Misses the Point, Queerty writes:

The Log Cabin Republicans are missing the point of the McCain episode. The fact that his campaign – with or without his knowledge – ran such a tasteless ad not only taints the political pool, but speaks volumes about how the Republicans consider queer citizens. The fact that the Log Cabin Republicans can’t see that makes us wonder whether they understand liberal democracy – period. Unless, of course, they’re more concerned with self-interest and would rather ignore their party’s institutional homophobia.