Reid Kills DADT Repeal
There are, no doubt, too many homophobic Republicans. But the anti-gay faction of the GOP didn’t kill the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal; Harry Reid did.
On Thursday, Senator Reid invoked cloture on the National Defense Authorization Act without coming to an agreement on the amendment process. This decision made sure Republicans would not have a say on the issue. This also ensured that no Republican Senator would cross party lines to vote for repeal.
"There is no other way to describe it - today Senator Reid torpedoed repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell’” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director. “Despite heroic efforts by Senator Susan Collins to craft a fair and reasonable process for debating one of the most important bills addressed by Congress every year, Senator Reid chose to turn his back on days of negotiation in favor of blaming Republicans for his failures.”
All rhetoric aside, Reid’s decision to invoke cloture when Sen. Collins was working with Sen. Lieberman to hash out a deal is astonishing. Ever since President Clinton bailed on dealing with gays in the military, the Democrats have promised to get rid of DADT. But every time the Democrats are at the goal line and are ready to get rid of DADT, the leadership realizes that it will require political capital and punts. So that Democrats can call the GOP names, Harry Reid threw away a goal that his party has been running on for more than 15 years. One word: “spineless.”