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Arizona senator John McCain said the only reason the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal is a hot issue in Washington is due to a pandering presidential candidate looking for votes in 2008.
McCain said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union that the policy is not necessarily damaging to the military. Instead, he said, the issue was raised after an "inexperienced" then-senator Barack Obama promised to repeal the law that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, according to The Washington Post.
McCain, who is leading the charge in the Senate to keep the 17-year-old law on the books, lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
