Posted on 12/18/2010 3:34:32 PM PST by Brices Crossroads
Eight Republicans bucked their party in backing the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy, potentially risking a backlash from the conservative base while giving the historic vote a stronger bipartisan finish than many expected.
The Republican senators voting “yes” with the Democrats on repeal were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Mark Kirk of Illinois, John Ensign of Nevada, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, George Voinovich of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine.
Burr, Ensign and Kirk did not announce their support for repeal before the Saturday vote. Burr and Ensign initially sided with Republicans in a procedural vote to bring the measure to the floor; they voted for repeal on the final vote.
But while Kirk and Ensign had previously indicated they were open to voting for repeal, Burr’s vote came as a surprise even to the sponsors of the legislation. Collins, who led the charge for repeal in the Senate with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, said she lobbied every other GOP senator who voted for repeal, except for the North Carolina Republican.
“I was confident going into the vote today that we had six to seven votes. I didn't not expect eight,” said Collins. “I was delighted but surprised with the vote from Sen. Burr. I think that was a gutsy vote and I was delighted. But he was not someone who I thought to lobby on the issue.”
Burr explained his reasoning to reporters after final passage.
“It's just that we’ve had a generational change and I have vehemently objected to making a policy change of this magnitude at this time. When cloture was passed, that settled that,” Burr said. “It’s not accepted practice anywhere in our society, and it only makes sense. But again, I was vehemently opposed to the timing of this.”
Another surprise of the day was Kirk, who was just elected to the Senate. As late as Thursday, the newly elected GOP senator told reporters that he was undecided and still combing through the long report from the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the issue.
Yet, in a 400-word statement released after the vote, Kirk explained in detail why he voted for the repeal of the policy.
“Following their exhaustive and considered military judgment, I support the Joint Chief's recommendation to implement the repeal of the current policy once the battle effectiveness of the forces is certified and proper preparations are complete,” said Kirk. “The legislation before us provides our military leaders with the time they requested to change the policy.”
Known for his moderate voting record as a congressman from the northern Chicago suburbs, Kirk was elected in the typically Democratic state of Illinois last November and was sworn into the Senate just three weeks ago.
But since arriving in Washington, Kirk has stood firmly with Senate Republicans. He was vocal in his opposition to the Democrat-backed $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, which Majority Leader Harry Reid yanked, voted against the defense reauthorization act that including the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ and voted against the DREAM Act earlier Saturday.
Two of the Republicans — Brown and Snowe — are up for reelection in 2012.
“The vote speaks for itself,” Brown told POLITICO, before an aide added that he had explained his position in prior published statements and the elevator doors closed.
Voinovich, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, told reporters that he was “convinced, based on all of the experts who have looked at this, this is something that should be done.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46578.html#ixzz18VZMt3Em
Bingo.
“They really heard nothing on election day.”
Oh I think they heard us alright. They just plain out don’t give a damn.
I predict Senatewhore Brown will come out of the closet and run as a dem-o-rat.
Can someone point to the repeal language that would cause this to happen? Merely backing out DADT clauses would not suffice.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
“Thats it for me - I’ll vote for the D in 2016.”
Instead, why not recruit a primary challenger and get rid of him. North Carlina used to produce the likes of John East And Jesse Helms. It can do a lot better than Burr.
Let Burr hear from you. Make him afraid to betray us next time.
Then the democrats (with their help) shoved it right up America's back side.
Nice flag waving guys.........you're all so, so.........liked by the MSM now (for a week).
A further prediction: within 6 months, a male homo will demand a sex change at taxpayer expense, and be assigned to one of the female military units.
I am beyond disappointed in John Ensign.
I think he is up for re-election in 2012 & NOW I will be working against him. Was on the fence until now.
This cuts me loose from any support for him.
Unreal, isn’t it? I suppose now that the Congress has stuck it to the American people, we’ll be seeing more about his gayness in the “media”. Stories about how the military was punishing him/her/it only because he’s a homosexual. I already saw one commie lib article saying that his gayness was being “tortured” by the Army. Geeesh! The definition of torture sure has gone downhill. Now, if you look at somebody cross-eyed, it’s “torture”.
Burr is not just a knave for doing this. He is a political fool as well. He had zero to gain in North Carolina by doing this. Even Lindsey Graham voted against it.
I thought this guy was a conservative.
Same here.
What was he thinking?
Somewhere I have book written in the ‘70’s. It was called “KGB.”
It was an extremely detailed, comprehensive look into the mindset of the recruiters for that organization.
One of the first “weaknesses to be exploited” was whether or not the targeted recruit was homosexual. They went on to explain how the emotional roller coasters that the average homosexual experienced in their lives, (even those who where ‘out’)could be a valuable asset in recruitment.
This whole wiki leaks thingee only proves the point.
I’ll root through my piled up book case with 30 something years of paper, and see if I can find it. Very good reading, even today.
“I am beyond disappointed in John Ensign.”
Ensign is overripe for a primary challenge. How about Sharron Angle? or Tarkanian?
You know, with all the crazy stuff that has gone on in his personal life, one has to wonder about the possibility of blackmail.
“.....with the closeted gay members of Congress, like Aaron Schock, Lindsey Graham, or Mark Kirk. ...”
HillBuzz December 18, 2010
http://hillbuzz.org/2010/12/18/the-cost-effectiveness-of-repealing-dadt-and-acknowledging-the-reality-that-there-are-already-many-many-gay-service-men-and-women-in-the-military/
Restoring the Republic is a work in progress. We made a great start in 2010. The work continues into 2012 and beyond.
“Another surprise of the day was Kirk, who was just elected to the Senate.”
Surprise to who? I fully expected Kirk to support repeal, regardless of what he was or was not publicly saying. Kirk is, and will continue to be, a very liberal Republican.
Sometimes a “half a loaf” candidate is the best one can hope for. But I suspect, when all is said and done, Kirk is not so much half a loaf than “that last end slice of the loaf that you really didn’t want to eat but did anyway because you didn’t have anything else to spread your peanut butter and jelly on” Republican.
Kirk is next to useless IMHO.
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