Welcome to The Now

With the report on DADT coming out in favor of repeal, the Senate's biggest holdout John McCain now has to insult the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of Defense and the POTUS in order to make a new standard (it's no secret that the Marine Corps is the biggest military hurdle to repeal while the other branches are either pro-repeal or indifferent). But as TPM notes, that swipe at Sec. Gates isn't accurate . If McCain doesn't think gays should serve, he should just say so.

And it's not exactly flattering .

US Senate says "no" to making more F-22s . Although this will "cost jobs," it will save tax payers money. And let's give credit where credit is due: The decision was a key policy victory for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has been campaigning against the plane since April as a centerpiece of his effort to "fundamentally reshape the priorities of America's defense establishment and reform the way the Pentagon does business -- in particular, the weapons we buy and how we buy them," as he put it in a Chicago speech last Thursday. Gates had depicted the F-22, which was conceived in the 1980s, as a "silver bullet solution" to a high-technology aerial warfare threat that has not materialized. He said other warplanes will adequately defend the country for decades to come, and won support from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Air Force's two senior leaders. But his view was strongly opposed by others in the Air Force ...

" Gates vowed to put up a fight against members of Congress opposed to new Pentagon budget priorities that seek to scale back or eliminate big-ticket programs including the F-22. " Maybe if he just gave up the Dragon Tank ... Obama Axes Pentagon Plan To Build Billion Dollar Tank In Shape Of Dragon

Progress : WASHINGTON – Defense and congressional officials say news organizations will be allowed to photograph the homecomings of America's war dead under a new Pentagon policy. The officials say Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided to allow photos of flag-draped caskets at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, if the families of fallen troops agree. The emerging policy mirrors one at Arlington National Cemetery, in which families largely decide whether they want media coverage. Combine this with Obama's pledge to put the cost of war back on the books, and we're seeing how his Administration plans on tackling the issue: by letting the American People know what's really going on.

I find it interesting that the new Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, isn't in the news as much as his predecessor (even Rumsfeld appearance in the Pat Tillman hearing got some ink). So the question pops in my head: just what kind of guy is Gates? Well, after seeing this post from C&L , I finally get it. Gates is that mid-season coach you get when your regular coach quits or gets fired. In sports, the MSC's job is to just get by the season unscathed. They're usually saddled with a team that's either too old, too young or too undisciplined (hence the departure of the former coach) and any victory is considered a blessing from on high. With Gates, there are similarities. First, he has to work with Rumsfeld's playbook (he can make minor adjustments, but in reality he can't remake the Department in his short tenure). Second, he has to deal with the people already in place like Rice (who's fiercely loyal to Bush) and Cheney (who never wanted Rumsfeld to leav...