In recent days, Senate Republicans have really stepped up their efforts to avoid a vote on repealing the discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy. But rather than standing up and proudly embracing their homophobia, Republicans have been hiding behind the clock, which as TPM points out, is a pretty neat trick:
Senate Republicans have been playing a neat trick to squeeze Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal off the Senate calendar ... they're laying out arbitrary -- and totally new -- benchmarks for how long it should take to debate the Defense Authorization bill (the vehicle for DADT repeal) to argue that there isn't enough time to debate it this Congress. [...]
This weekend on "Meet the Press," he revised that figure down to two weeks. "Once you get on the defense bill, it typically takes two weeks," he claimed.
Other Republicans want two weeks of debate as well -- including moderate members who say they'll support repeal but only if the process meets their specifications. [...]
The Senate has spent five days (or fewer) debating the defense authorization bill nine times. And, once, back in the friendly days when Bill Clinton presided over majorities in the House and Senate, it took one day. On average, the process includes votes on about 12 amendments -- though sometimes they vote on as many as 20 or 30 or as few as one or two.
But hey, if Senate Republicans insist they need the time, give it to them. Take away their stated reason for not having a vote and let them have the national stage for two weeks to make their case -- because God knows they'll never be able to keep a lid on the bigotry fueling their opposition for that long.
As for that running clock, according to calendars in the land of reality, there's weeks to go before the lame-duck session has to end ... Harry Reid's arbitrary hope for a December 17th ending notwithstanding.