“getting sh– done” while you were grumbling
There was an advertisement for the repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy which says that our NATO Allies tell us what to expect with the policy change “Business as Usual”. Cue clips of military generals saying nothing happened when their country accepted homosexuals to serve openly.
Fox News rejected the ad. Fox News viewers, represntative of the minority opposed, and so we have a model of “epistemological closure” when you can’t even buy an opposing view-point onto their air. The effect is what I heard when I circled around the AM dial of Talk Radio (defacto Conservative Movement Republican) yesterday. Here’s the debate / caller conversation set-up of the most enlightened variety: “I’m curious. If you are gay, and in the military, what is the benefit for you to be out sexually?” I don’t know, man. Something on the order of avoiding a needless cover-up and constantly searching your mind to back-track to not be “unoverered.” What kind of question is that?
There are now three votes to consider in relation to the final passage. The first was the vote that should have gotten it done on its most timely manner, but which the erstwhile Moderate Republicans found an excuse to punt. So we have Scott Brown, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe playing a political game to ensure that Obama’s party procure a bit more political punishment in November — one accomplishment delayed and put in jeopardy to affect the “Not Delivering” disenchantment in Obama — might be worth a handful of Congress-critters. Moreover, the need was to put maximum leverage in getting the Tax Cut extended.
Make that consideration, Massachusetts voters, when Scott Brown campaigns with this issue in 2012, allowing the matter to dangle in the wind in a slightly less clean “Lame-duck” session.
The two Senate votes this weekend are a little odd. The one that matters, in this era, is the cloture vote. The Democrats all voted for repeal, save a shady and missing Senator Manchin of West Virginia. The Republicans who crossed the aisle were Brown of Massachussets, Collins and Snowe of Maine, Senator Murkowski of Alaska — fresh off her write-in victory, Mark Kirk in Illinois, George Voinovich of Ohio…
And, out of nowhere, on the next vote (in this day and age, actually meaningless): Richard Burr of North Carolina and John Ensign of Nevada. I do not really know what political ramifications for these two are — here’s Ensign on his reasoning, and here’s Burr speaking of a generational inevitability and shift he’s not in the mood of blocking.
We may as well note that where these Senators were holding DADT hostage for Tax Cuts, Senators such as Bob Corker of Tennessee tried to scuttle DADT by holding START hostage. Russian press takes note.