Dear Senator McCain

It saddens me to say this, especially since there once was a day that I actually admired you and thought you were a principled, honorable man, but unfortunately that is no longer the case. You are now a bitter, tired, cranky old man who is more than willing to abandon all your principles if it will buy you even one vote among the most vile among your base.

Well sir, I have news for you: I TOO AM ONE OF YOUR CONSTITUENTS and you now offend and sicken me. You have forever lost my vote. Your cynical, very transparent willingness to betray the very men who have followed in your footsteps and put their lives on the line to defend this country is nothing short of breathtaking and disgusting. Using homophobia and divisive, ugly lies may have won you a few points with those in your base who thrive on hate and bigotry, but you sold your soul by saying this:

In his State of the Union address, President Obama asked Congress to repeal the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. I am immensely proud of, and thankful for, every American who wears the uniform of our country, especially at a time of war, and I believe it would be a mistake to repeal the policy.

This successful policy has been in effect for over 15 years, and it is well understood and predominantly supported by our military at all levels. We have the best trained, best equipped, and most professional force in the history of our country, and the men and women in uniform are performing heroically in two wars. At a time when our armed forces are fighting and sacrificing on the battlefield, now is not the time to abandon the policy.

Spare yourself any more embarrassment. Retire and go down in history with maybe a small shred of decency left. And then have a long talk with your daughter, Meghan, and your wife, Cindy. They get it. Homophobia and descrimination are so 2000.

Andrew Sullivan's take:

We have learned so much about McCain these past few years: a man whose cynicism allowed him to acquiesce to the CIA using the exact same torture methods once used on him; whose recklessness goaded him to foist an unbalanced ignoramus as a potential president in a time of great crisis at home and abroad; whose bitterness is exceeded only by Joe Lieberman's; and who sickeningly exploited his own years as a POW to gin up votes. He's as hollow a man as you're likely to find in Washington - and that's a very high bar.