Finally, there looks to be some movement on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The Log Cabin Republicans are speaking to senators they view as "persuadable" and urging them to at least support having a debate on the NDAA. I don't know if this strategy will work - gay Republicans aren't exactly embraced by their party - but we could certainly use two or three Republicans who are leaning our way.
It's good to see people taking it seriously enough to do some real lobbying on our behalf, even if it is pretty late in the game. Many people here were wondering why they weren't doing much, and if they were going to start, so I see this as a promising development (especially considering that the White House's opinion of repeal is a tepid "it's worth a shot.") If Collins, Snowe, Gregg and maybe someone else can be won over, this thing actually has a chance of passage.
Huffington Post has some more details of LCR's lobbying:
R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, told The Huffington Post that since Thursday, he has had four separate meetings with persuadable Senate offices -- three with staff, and one with a senator -- and all of them mentioned that they had not yet heard from the White House about supporting a DADT repeal.
It would be nice if the White House would also contact Republicans. They're a bit more powerful than the LCR. Hell, this is one time I'd actually be interested in the White House giving President Snowe something for her vote.
"[T]hese are all senators who would be willing to have a dialogue, and they have not heard from the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, which is an arm of the Executive Office of the President," relayed Cooper. "So again, if President Obama is serious about this as a legislative priority, there are Republican offices that need a phone call."
I assume that since he's speaking about senators who would be willing to have a dialogue, it's a very, very tiny number of them, but all we really need is two or three at least.
An anonymous White House source says that the White House has done more than LCR says:
A White House official disagreed with these assessments, saying that they have reached out to Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the issue, making calls as recently as Monday night. "The Administration has not wavered from its stance that the DADT repeal should be passed during this Congress," the official stated.
I was willing to believe them, but I recently got blasted for believing an anonymous source, so now I'm not so sure. It'd be great if true though. It would show that they are becoming more and more serious and personally invested in repeal's passage. I especially liked the anonymous source's reference to "this Congress" because it's ending in a month, so if they want it to be in "this" Congress, it has to be very soon.
John McCain is still trying to strip the provision out of the bill. Let's hope the LCR can win us over the Republicans we need.