POLITICS: Repeal of 'Don't Ask' Fails in Senate!

(AP) – Republicans blocked a last-ditch effort in the Senate today to lift the military's ban on openly gay troops, rejecting another project pushed vigorously by President Obama. The 57-40 vote fell three short of the 60 needed to overcome procedural hurdles to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." Republican senators were united in demanding that the Senate vote on tax cuts first. They also wanted assurances by Harry Reid they would be given extensive time debate on the overall defense bill.

"Instead of doing what is right, the world's greatest deliberative body devolved into shameful school yard spats that put petty partisan politics above the needs of our women and men in uniform," said the president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group. President Obama expressed his disappointment after the vote and said "it must not be the end of our efforts."

Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell will get another chance. Republican Susan Collins and Independent Joe Lieberman say they plan to introduce a stand-alone measure in the lame-duck session, and Harry Reid says he's on board, reports MSNBC. It's no gimme by any stretch—opponents could try to talk it to death with amendments, for one thing, notes the Times—but "we're not going to give up," says Lieberman. Assuming it comes up after the tax issue is settled, it could theoretically pick up three decisive pro-repeal votes from Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski, and Dick Lugar, writes Greg Sargent at his Plum Line blog.