Scott Brown (MA) announces support for repeal of DADT. That makes 61...on paper!

[jefferson_dem]

Big Boost for Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal: Brown Backs Senate Bill
December 16, 2010 10:25 AM

ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports:

Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown today voiced his support for a stand-alone repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, bringing the bill one vote over the 60-vote threshold that it will need to reach if and when the Senate votes on the measure in the coming weeks.

“Sen. Brown accepts the Pentagon’s recommendation to repeal the policy after proper preparations have been completed. If and when a clean repeal bill comes up for a vote, he will support it,” said Brown spokesperson Gail Gitcho.

Brown’s backing means that – on paper – supporters of the repeal have 61 senators in favor of the bill. On Wednesday Republicans Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lisa Murkowski both announced their support for the stand-alone repeal. The House passed the clean repeal on Wednesday and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has vowed to bring it to a vote in the Senate before the end of the year.

However, Reid has warned that bringing the bill to a vote in the Senate is not an issue of support, but rather of time. With just over a week before Christmas, the Senate is only now kicking off debate on the START nuclear treaty and a massive $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. It will likely be early next week before the Senate wraps up work on those two measures – and numerous GOP senators have voiced stern opposition to both bills, preferring instead to fund the government into early next year and go home for the holidays. That leaves little time for the Senate to pass the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/12/big-boost-for-dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-brown-backs-senate-bill-.html

Do The Math
David Kurtz | December 16, 2010, 11:14AM

In a minor miracle considering last week's defeat, DADT repeal now appears to have the 60 votes needed for Senate passage. Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski and Olympia Snowe have all pledged their unconditional support, meaning three no votes have flipped from last week's tally. Add in Blanche Lincoln, who was at the dentist last time and missed the vote, and the 57 yes votes of a week ago go up to 61, assuming none of the yes votes flip.

I'll admit I thought Joe Lieberman was bluffing when he said he could get the votes before last week's failed vote and when he continued to say it this week, I started to wonder what he was smoking. But Lieberman, hard as it will be for many people to give it to him, deserve a hell of a lot credit if repeal passes

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/12/do_the_math_2.php

[yellowcanine]

1. Take that John McCain and John Kyl. Let the whining begin.

[tekisui]

2. KNR!~

[karynnj]

3. The framing here is interesting and all for Scott Brown

The fact is the big boost was yesterday - when Snowe and Murkowski became yeses - that got us to the finiish line - ie 60. Brown waited too long to be the decisive vote. It is good that he will (if he doesn't change his mind again) vote yes. Now it is good to have a spare vote or two.

[jefferson_dem]

6. Good point.

I've adjusted the subject line. I'm happy Brown now (apparently) supports repeal but he certainly does not deserve "hero status".

[karynnj]

9. I knew it was not your framing - but the article's - I should have made that clearer

He's actually got a hard choice here - as it does make him less a tea party hero - but voting no hurts him in MA. (His national appeal is likely to be less over time - as his novelty disappears, his hair continues to recede, and he fails to gain any gravitas. If that were not true, this would be strategic as this will become more acceptable in the Republican party over time - this is a generational issue.

[jenmito]

4. K&R. They also have from Dec. 26th-Jan. 4th. It will get done IMO. n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. I think we'll see Kirk, Lugar, and maybe even Ensign jump on board

once the threshold has been reached. That idiot Manchin will vote with the caucus as well.

Kirk is especially vulnerable on this, and gains nothing with a no vote on cloture if it's going to pass anyway, but loses quite a bit if he votes no - in terms of both fundraising and presenting himself as an independent next Senate race. This guy wants to be in the Senate for 20 years or more. He's not going to want to look like a homophobic troll in Illinois, especially if the legislation is destined to pass anyway. Ensign, for his part, is scared shitless of what he saw Reid do to Angle in Nevada this last election. With his own "moral" issues, he derives more benefit by playing to the younger, indy, and socially liberal crowd in the cities rather than the dead-enders in the desert. If there are 61 or 62 votes for cloture, I think we might see Ensign jump on that to save his own skin.

[treestar]

7. K&R

[wisteria]

8. This surprises me, Brown must be leveraging himself for 2012 with the voters in Mass. n/t

[frazzled]

10. But the problem is Republicans holding up the schedule in the Senate

They are trying their damnedest to use procedural delays to prevent this and other year-end legislation from coming up. And if it doesn't come up before the end of the year, it is officially dead. The next House will NEVER approve repeal of DADT, and it will be dead.

I don't know how we (or rather Reid) gets around this, but we must work our hardest to get the stand-alone repeal on the docket asap. Write Harry Reid today!

[AlinPA]

11. Nelson (NE) ? Is he in the count? I heard Pryor (AR) said he might vote for repeal, but the

fundamentalists may be sharpening their pitchforks to scare him off. No way he could be re-elected in AR with Repeal of DADT in his voting record.