"Don't ask, don't tell" fails 56-43. Reid's fault or those dirty Republicans ??

Senate Republicans block 'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal — An effort to repeal the military's “don't ask don't tell” policy went down to defeat Tuesday afternoon, with Senate Democrats and Republicans squaring off in a pro . . . . .

Editor's notes: let's not forget that don''t ask, don't tell is a Democrat bill, signed into law by Bill Clinton. The vote today, was not about "killing the bill." Rather, it was about allowing the military panel reviewing the ins and outs of the bill's implementation by the Armed Forces. The vote was 56 to 43 which means that two Democrats voted to continue debate. No doubt, this will be revisited again, after the midterms.

While the press will put out the notion that the GOP blocked the bill because they don't like gays, the fact is best stated in the words of Susan Collins (R-Ma) :

“I cannot vote to proceed to this bill under a situation that is going to shut down the debate and preclude Republican amendments. That, too, is not fair,” Collins said. “Now is not the time to play politics simply because an election is looming in a few weeks. . . .There are many controversial issues in this bill. They deserve to have civil, fair and open debate on the Senate floor . . . . . It should be repealed . . . . My view is our armed services should welcome the service of any qualified individual who is capable of serving our country…..We should be expressing our gratitude to those individuals not trying to exclude them from service or expel them from the force. . . . . I find myself on the horns of a dilemma,” Collins said as she publicly pleaded with Reid to reconsider his stance on amendments. . . . . "

Understand that Reid has refused to allow any GOP amendment to this bill. He is hoping to use the Senate's rejection of the bill, today, as a campaign issue over the next 42 days. That is why he refused GOP amendments -- he knew it would fail for that reason. The Marxist Dems did this with the Stimulus bill as well -- refusing any GOP amendments. With the health care bill, only one GOP amendment made it into the bill while nearly 800 GOP amendments never got it out of committee.

We remind our readership that Republicans Scott Brown, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe all voted against the bill in today's vote.

What hurts Obama in all this is the fact that "don't ask, don't tell" could have been forced through Congress during any time in 2009. The GOP had absolutely no means with which to derail the repeal measure and the gay community knows it. This is not a Republican victory so much as it is an Obama failure. he he he