Month: September 2010

On DADT Repeal, and the politics of cynicism

Yesterday, the 2011 defense spending authorization bill was voted down with a vote against cloture (long story short, a filibuster wasn’t broken). It received much coverage in the media as a repeal of the military policies of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, but what it was was approval of the military budget for next year.

Everyone knows about riders and attachments to bills. DADT itself was an attachment, and it would have been nice for it to have been repealed by way of attachment. However, yesterday’s was one of the most cynical I’ve seen. In addition to attaching DADT repeal to the budget bill, Harry Reid overplayed his hand and attached the DREAM act (read on THOMAS) and the bill had provisons for taxpayer-funded abortions for military personnel.

Consider: riders and attachments are politics as usual, and attaching DADT repeal would’ve put the Republicans in a pickle, despite John McCain’s objections. The nonsensical nature of DADT is known to many Republicans, and I can already think of at least five Senators who would gladly vote for its repeal (Brown, Collins, Snowe, Graham, (with Ensign & Gregg being maybes)) if that were the only attachment to the spending bill. Instead, Harry Reid thought he could get more by attaching the DREAM act, which most speculate is a pander to Hispanic voters in Nevada, where he is currently tied with Sharron Angle.

Of the riders to the spending bill, I personally consider DADT to be the only one that would’ve survived Republican scrutiny. Harry Reid made a huge mistake with his overreach, and gays get the sharp end of the stick once again.