“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal is 99% Dead

I told you so.

If you believed that a Democratic president, with a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate was all we needed to pass repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” you were wrong.

If you believed that our “fierce advocate” president was going to put some skin in the game, you were wrong.

If you believed that politicians were going to “do the right thing,” rather than the politically-expedient thing, you were wrong.

And if you believed, for one brief shining moment, that “good things come to those who wait,” or that people want to be on “the right side of history,” well, not these people.

Via the Wall Street Journal:

“The drive in Congress to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy appears all but lost for the foreseeable future, with action unlikely this year and even less likely once Republicans take charge of the House in January.

“President Barack Obama has repeatedly said he wants to overturn the policy, which bans gays from serving openly in the armed forces. Advocates on both sides believed the issue had a chance of coming up in this month’s post-election session of Congress. Now that looks unlikely.

“Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and John McCain of Arizona, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, are in talks on stripping the proposed repeal and other controversial provisions from a broader defense bill, leaving the repeal with no legislative vehicle to carry it. With a repeal attached, and amid Republican complaints over the terms of the debate, the defense bill had failed to win the 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle in the Senate in September.

“A spokeswoman for Mr. McCain, who opposes the repeal, confirmed he is in talks with Mr. Levin on how to proceed on the defense bill but didn’t provide details.”

Trust me when I tell you, with the resurgent GOP, fueled by Tea Party bigots, the cause of equality just took a decade-long step back.