Comments on: HRC Fires Rare Warning Shot

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:42:46 +0000

Jim said “That tells me that Reid didn’t give a damn whether the vote passed or not.”.

I agree. He just wanted to get this out of the way regardless of how it turned out and that’s why he rushed into it.

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:40:44 +0000

I have always held REpublicans responsible for their anti-gay actions. But I refuse to adopt a double standard that gives Democrats a pass.

And I do see this episode as Reid’s fault. He called a snap vote when people ON HIS OWN SIDE weren’t in the chamber to vote. He knew it would be a close vote and needed every vote there, but he called a vote while Sen. Blanche Lincoln was at the dentist’s office. He also called the vote even though Sen. Collins, who was supposed to be another “yes” vote (and ultimately was as “yes”) wasn’t even in the chamber and didn’t know the vote was going to take place.

Nobody who really wants a bill to pass pulls a stupid stunt like that, and Reid’s not that stupid. That tells me that Reid didn’t give a damn whether the vote passed or not. All he wanted is something to use for the next two or six years to try to blame Republicans for his failure. Yes, Republicans are to blame for voting “no.” But to pretend that Reid actually wanted it to pass is to live in a dream world. I prefer to live in reality.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:46:01 +0000

Desiree,

As we don’t allow slurs or hate speech on this site, I assume that you simply misspelled “Republican” and corrected your spelling for you.

By: Désirée

Désirée — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:33:15 +0000

while I have no doubt that Reid is playing games, I still don’t understand why the blame for the repeals failure isn’t being placed squarely on the Republicans who have held the Senate hostage with their tax cut for millionaires demand. I know you guys want to make the Republicans look less blame worthy than the dems right now, but the fact remains, if they wanted to pass a DADT repeal even a little bit, it would be done, regardless of Reid’s politicking. They don’t want it passed and Reid is just helping them by offering a nice target.

Seeing people here blame Reid as if this is entirely his fault is like watching someone blame Student A for not doing anything to stop Student B from bullying Student C while ignoring the fact that Student B is the bully doing the bullying.

By: customartist

customartist — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:15:46 +0000

Instead of attaching DADT Repeal to Military Funding, this should be attached to the Tax Cut Bill.

THEN the Repubs could hold their noses and justify voting in favor of it, and the Demorcats would have greater by-in.

Email this to the Whitehouse:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Dear President Obama,

Please propose a Bill attaching DADT Repeal to the Tax Cut Bill. This will gain Yourself and the Democratic Party political credit, and it will allow Repubs to be motivated and to have the necessary cover to vote in favor of this understandably controversial legislation.

By: customartist

customartist — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:05:10 +0000

In the end Susan Collins cannot guarantee that she can get the Republicans to relinquish their Vow to “Not Pass Any Legislation” until they get tax cuts for Millionaires.

Republicans stamd firm on this, and even if they do get tax cuts, this does not equate to their passing DADT Repeal. They will surely come up with more specific reasons to not pass DADT Repeal. McCain is willing to sacrifice his entire life’s cred to get the taste of sour grapes out of his mouth.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:53:35 +0000

Zeke,

I saw several different sources for the same news on Collins/Reid.

By: TampaZeke

TampaZeke — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:48:20 +0000

Jim, you mean the same Washington Post that has, over the last two weeks, published countless stories and op eds heavily weighted AGAINST repeal. Like the story they did where they ONLY interviewed service members who were against repeal. You’re basing your information on the Collins/Reid negotiations on THAT Washington Post?

I don’t know that I would have that much faith in their reporting at this point.

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:25:27 +0000

I just watched the vote and, yes, it certainly did appear that Senator Reid was playing rhetorical games with Senator Collins. Joe.My.God reported that Collins DID vote with the Dems but the final vote was 57-40. Three people didn’t vote.

Collins called out Reid on the Senate floor and asked him if he was going to come through with the 15 amendments (10 for Repubs, 5 for Dems) they *seemed* to have agreed on yesterday. But Reid’s response was that “they” keep changing the rules and in his frustration, he was going to go ahead and call for the vote. He did. He lost. We lost.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:43:10 +0000

I wonder if HRC considers themselves to be among the “key players”