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bjbj Let's talk real quickly, Louis, about the Don't Ask, Don't Tell vote. I don't want
to get fully into a whole thing here, but I at least want to mention that on Friday,
the Senate blocked debate on the Defense Authorization Bill, which includes the Don't Ask, Don't
Tell repeal, 57 to 40. So what exactly happened here? 97 votes, why didn't everybody vote
on this? Well, Republicans Sam Brownback and John Cornyn just didn't vote. I don't actually
know the history... does anybody back there know why they didn't vote? No, we're not sure.
They just didn't. Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown supports repealing Don't
Ask, Don't Tell, he voted against it on Friday because he just doesn't want to move on that
before the tax cut vote. Here's the interesting one. Democrat Blanche Lincoln was at the dentist,
and she missed the vote by three minutes. Now, why on Earth, Louis, would she be at
the dentist when there's going to be a vote on something so significant? Wouldn't she
know it would be coming up? Louis: I assume so. David: Well, the answer is she should
know, she didn't, because Harry Reid decided to run this vote. Now, why would he do that?
My belief is it's for a very specific calculation that Harry Reid made. News was starting to
leak about significant opposition about the tax cut compromise in the House of Representatives
among Democrats. And this was essentially going to become, I don't know if I would say
front-page news, it was going to become news, and it was certainly going to become a headline
heading into the weekend. So Harry Reid worried that that would become the headline and it
could hurt the prospect on that front, it could make the Democrats seem divided, which
they are, by the way. It wouldn't be incorrect if that's the way things appeared. Harry Reid
says, 'You know what?' I'm going to put this vote together, I'm going to call this vote
now, no matter what happens, pass or fail, and I assume he knew that it would've failed,
that will replace House Democrats turning against Barack Obama, or however it was that
it would've been presented, into the front-page news, or at least the news in the political
world over the weekend. And you know what, it worked. And now, as we head into this week,
there's hundreds of stories confirming that even through their opposition, House Democrats
are likely not going to hold this up. So in a sense, Harry Reid, I don't know, maybe he
was right in doing this. In the end, House Democrats aren't going to hold it up, right,
Louis? Louis: Right. David: And Harry Reid managed to keep it out of the news. Good move
or bad move? I mean, the issue is what does it do to Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and we will
get a new vote on that eventually. Louis: Eventually, right. David: Was this a politically
savvy move by Harry Reid? Louis: Seems like kind of a neutral thing. David: I think if
anything, it just makes the impression of Democrats appear to be even a little bit more
negative. I mean, Blanche Lincoln's at the dentist, she clearly doesn't know that this
is happening. It's... the timing is strange. I don't know that this was really a great
move. If the goal was just to keep House Democrats turning against the tax compromise out of
the news, which I propose it was, then I guess it worked, and we can't say much more than
that. Few new members I want to say hello to before we go to break. Johanna N., Clint
L., Amy C., Eric U., and Martin S., new members on The David Pakman Show membership program.
Of course, Louis, www.DavidPakman.com/membership. Louis rabidly logging on now to get yet another
membership for himself. We'll be back after this. Announcer: The David Pakman Show at
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