The seemingly never-ending saga of where we are on a vote to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" continues:
As you know, things were looking up yesterday afternoon. Talks were said to be progressing between Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman, and Susan Collins, who has emerged as the key to getting repeal passed. Last night Collins even made a final offer that didn't seem all that unreasonable: She said she largely accepted Reid's offer of 15 amendments, but added she needed four days of debate on them.
Guess what: Reid has yet to respond to her offer, according to a spokesperson for Collins. "As of this morning, Senator Collins has not received a response from the Majority Leader," the spokesman, Kevin Kelley, tells me.
And yet it's being reported that Reid intends to hold the cloture vote today, in which case, he is playing chicken with the repeal.
Of course the time being requested by Collins -- even if her motivation is simply delay -- wouldn't be an issue if Reid wasn't hellbent on keeping to his arbitrary December 17th deadline for the lame-duck Congress, rather than putting off his Christmas vacation and fighting to end a policy that discriminates against millions of Americans.