memeorandum: Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Advances (Carl Hulse/New York Times)

7:05 PM ET, December 18, 2010

Top Items:

Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Advances — WASHINGTON — After a 17-year struggle, the Senate on Saturday cleared the way for repealing the Pentagon's ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military. — By a bipartisan vote of 63 to 33, the Senate acted to cut off debate …

Discussion: Riehl World View, Poliglot, Gothamist, Associated Press, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, Runnin' Scared, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Truthdig

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Senate Blocks Bill for Illegal Immigrant Students — The Senate on Saturday blocked a bill that would create a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrant students who came to the United States as children, completed two years of college or military service and met other requirements including passing a criminal background check.

Discussion: The Note, Don Surber, Sky Dancing, neo-neocon, Vox Popoli, Truthdig, GayPatriot, Outside the Beltway and The Reality-Based Community

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Senate votes to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' — The Senate voted 65 to 31 Saturday to repeal the “don't ask, don't tell” law, beginning the process of ending a 17-year ban on gays serving openly in the military and reversing decades of official military policy.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Fox News, Taylor Marsh, PostPartisan, Pam's House Blend, The Gateway Pundit and USA Today

Shira Toeplitz / The Politico:

Eight Republicans back 'Don't ask' repeal — Eight Republicans bucked their party in backing the repeal of the “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, potentially risking a backlash from the conservative base while giving the historic vote a stronger bipartisan finish than many expected.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and The Hill

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:

Senate Repeals Don't Ask, Don't Tell — With just a signature from President Obama, a ban on openly gay servicemembers will no longer be the law of the land. — By a vote of 65 to 31 this afternoon, the Senate voted to repeal the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

Discussion: Examiner, Daily Kos, Lean Left and Gawker

The Hill:
Senate breaks GOP filibuster, advances 'Don't ask' repeal

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Note, ABCNEWS, The Hill, Sky Dancing, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, White House.gov Blog Feed, The Politico and National Review

CNN:
Senate passes 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Runnin' Scared and Pharyngula

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
DADT Breaks Filibuster

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and TPMDC

USA Today:
Senate passes 'don't ask,' sends repeal to Obama

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Impolitic

Bryan Fischer / afa.net:
Benedict Arnold Republicans destroy military and our national security

Discussion: Right Wing Watch, Bold Faith Type and DownWithTyranny!

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Advances In Senate — Final Vote Likely This Weekend

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, Feministing, Blue Wave News, Wake up America, Talking Points Memo and pandagon.net

Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily:
'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal Passes Senate, But Change Will Take Time

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Anne Flaherty / Associated Press:
Senate advances bill to lift military gay ban

Discussion: GayPatriot and The Other McCain

CNN:
Senate to hold final vote on 'don't ask, don't tell,' DREAM Act fails

Discussion: Washington Post and Jezebel

The Politico:

DREAM Act dies in Senate — The weeks of rallies, hunger strikes and sit-ins and the thousands of phone calls placed to Senate offices didn't pay off for immigration activists. — The decade-old DREAM Act once again failed to break a filibuster in the Senate on Saturday morning …

Discussion: Weigel, Ben Smith's Blog, The Gateway Pundit and FrumForum

Andrea Nill / ThinkProgress:

As DREAM Act Fails, Graham Tells Undocumented Youth They Wasted Their Time — Today, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. Fourty-one mostly Republican senators voted against a bill which would have provided young undocumented immigrants …

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel

Shankar Vedantam / Washington Post:
Defeat of immigration measure reveals failed White House strategy, advocates say

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
DREAM Act cloture fails, 55-41

Discussion: National Review, The Hill and The Anchoress

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
SENATE KILLS ‘DREAM ACT’.... It should have been an easy one.

Discussion: Bold Faith Type

Carrie Dann / msnbc.com:
DREAM Act blocked in Senate

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Gothamist, USA Today, Crooks and Liars, iOwnTheWorld.com, Wake up America and Moe Lane

Julia Preston / New York Times:
Bill to Grant Legal Status to Immigrant Students Heads to a Vote in the Senate

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Politico, The Note, NewsBusters.org blogs, America's Voice Blog, CNN and White House.gov Blog Feed

Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily: Immigration End Game: DREAM Act Defeated in the Senate

Bridget Johnson / The Hill: Pro-immigration groups decry ‘shameful’ vote; enforcement groups vow new push

Michelle Malkin:
Operation Buck Up redux: Stop the DREAM Act; Sessions' last action …

Discussion: The Hill, Examiner, Don Surber, NumbersUSA, Human Events, The Gateway Pundit, Get Schooled, TRAIL BLAZERS, National Review and Newsweek

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Manchin's whereabouts — Today's minor mystery was the location of newly-minted West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who missed key votes on the DREAM Act and the repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.” (He says he would have voted “no” on both.) — The Gazette reports:

Discussion: The Huffington Post and TPMDC

Alison Knezevich / Squawk Box:

Manchin skips votes on DADT, DREAM Act — Today is a big day in the U.S. Senate, and Sen. Joe Manchin isn't there. — Manchin missed key votes today on the repeal of “don't ask, don't tell” — which advanced and is headed for a final vote this afternoon — and the DREAM Act …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Note, Ben Smith's Blog, TPMDC, AOL News and Talking Points Memo

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

START treaty survives threat from McCain amendment on missile defense — The Senate voted 37 to 59 on Saturday to reject an amendment to the preamble of the New START nuclear treaty that Democrats say would have gutted it. — The amendment sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) …

Discussion: National Review

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Treaty Proceeds as Language Remains Intact

Discussion: The Hill

The White House:
Weekly Address: START is About the Safety and Security of America …

Discussion: Politics Daily

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:

Whose Party Is It? — The far left is foaming at the mouth. — The near-apoplectic level of agita within the liberal screeching class over President Obama's tax-cut compromise has exposed a seismic crack in the Democratic monolith — outspoken liberal Democrats on one side and barely audible moderate Democrats on the other.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Daily Kos and INSTAPUTZ

Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Conservatives Continue to Outnumber Moderates in 2010

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Scared Monkeys and Wake up America

Army Court-Martial Defense Specialist / The Law Office …:

A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning — PFC Manning is currently being held in maximum custody. Since arriving at the Quantico Confinement Facility in July of 2010, he has been held under Prevention of Injury (POI) watch. — His cell is approximately six feet wide and twelve feet in length.

Discussion: Salon and Balloon Juice

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Obama's Long Game: 65 - 31 — Do gay activists, including myself, want to doubt it now? Of course, it's my job to push, to criticize, to explain, to shame, to encourage. But I did so precisely to advance what has happened today, and am glad that it was a small part of the climate that made it happen.

Discussion: Above the Law

Paul Krugman:

Springtime for Hypocrites — It has been a great week on the hypocrisy front. A couple of high points: — The hypocrisy of the apparatchiks: Joe Nocera amplifies some of the points I made in my column. The determination of the Republicans on the crisis commission to lay the blame …

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog, Economist's View and Real Time Economics