It looks like DADT repeal has the votes to pass the Senate:
Proponents of repealing the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers have enough votes in the Senate to get it done this year. The only thing standing in the way of ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell now is time.Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is backing the standalone Don't Ask, Don't Tell bill in the Senate, his office confirms to TPM. So is Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). The pair join Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Olympia Snowe (ME) in publicly supporting the measure, giving it more than enough votes to secure the 60 needed for cloture, the first step before a final vote that would almost assuredly come down on the side of repeal.
If this happens, and the Senate votes to repeal DADT, something tells me that some liberals will have to rethink their anger over Democrats' decision to let Joe Lieberman hang on to his seniority after the 2008 election, when he publicly campaigned against Obama. Lieberman hasn't been the greatest Democratic ally -- see his behavior during the fight over health-care reform -- but he's been there when it counted; Lieberman voted for the stimulus, health-care reform, financial reform, and was vital to crafting climate change legislation. When DADT repeal failed to pass the Senate last week, Lieberman promised the votes for a stand-alone bill. And lo and behold, it looks like we have the votes for a stand-alone bill. I'm no fan of Lieberman, but if DADT repeal passes, then I might have to move him from "despised" to "tolerable."
-- Jamelle Bouie
