Joe Lieberman airs 'don't ask' doubts

[unhappycamper]

Joe Lieberman airs 'don't ask' doubts
By JOSH GERSTEIN | 9/16/10 5:45 PM EDT Updated: 9/17/10 8:49 AM EDT

Gay rights advocates went on high alert Thursday afternoon after Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), a key proponent of repealing the military’s "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy, said that he believes Senate Republicans can kill the defense authorization bill containing the repeal – a step Sen. John McCain has already threatened to take.

“The question is whether the Senate leadership can negotiate an agreement with the Republicans that will allow the bill to come up and get them to feel that they can introduce amendments that they want to introduce as well,” Lieberman said in an interview with Kerry Eleveld of the Advocate, a web site and magazine for the gay community. “But until that happens, I don’t think the votes are there to break the filibuster, which would be a shame.”

McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, declared he will block the defense bill if the "don’t ask, don’t tell" language isn’t stripped.

Lieberman’s assessment was more negative than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered on Tuesday, when asked if he had enough votes to push the legislation through GOP opposition.

“We’ll sure find out. I don’t know,” Reid said.



unhappycamper comment: Go ahead. Hurt me by blocking the 'defense' spending bill.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I cannot wait until that POS is voted out of office....

[vi5]

2. To be fair to Lieberman here.....

God, I hate even having to type that.......but anyway the title is misleading. He's not saying he doesn't still support it, just that he's not sure the votes are there to block the fillibuster.

Believe me, Joe does enough that is unequvically hackish and right wing pandering and democratic agenda blocking. But on this (unless I"m reading this wrong), I'm not sure that's entirely the case. It's more that McCain is threatening to block it than Leiberman is.

[jeremyfive]

3. More John McCain Filth

When he's not waffling, he's pandering. When he's not discriminating, he's hating.

Nothing "American" about John McCain. The Cong?--shoulda kept him. The life of luxury this man enjoys is unbelievable--can't count the number of houses he owns. Left his disabled first wife for a stripper. Crashed how many million dollar aircraft?

Throughly repulsive. And that he can step on the rights of America's best and brightest by criminalizing them is completely intolerable.

Go away, old man. No special status for heterosexuals. Stop criminalizing our brave soldiers who have stepped up to serve America.

[RetiredTrotskyite]

7. That's ANOTHER POS...

that needs to be run out of the Senate along with the rest of the reich-wing scumbags. :kick:

[Pab Sungenis]

4. Fine. They can have the ban

or they can have funding for their war machine. They can't have both. Let them choose.

[Doc Martin]

5. Lieberman wanting to make himself important. Again? ;-(

[ShadowLiberal]

6. Lieberman is telling us what it is, he's not saying he doesn't support a repeal of DADT

Lieberman's just saying that it's going to be harder then we think to get this bill passed. I've read elsewhere that the decision to attach the DREAM act to it (which throws immigration, another hot button issue into the bill) could cost us votes of moderate republicans who would vote for a DADT repeal, who's votes we need to pass the bill.

Much as most people on DU would agree that the DREAM act is a good bill, and that DADT should have never even been declared law in the first place, it may be asking for too much to think both can pass side by side in the same bill.