White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs – but not President Obama – spoke on the filibustering of a Department of Defense appropriations bill by Senate Republicans in order to frustrate a repeal of the American military ban on openly gay service members, according to HuffingtonPost.com Gibbs focusing mostly on the procedural implications of the vote, saying “Sixty is the new 50 and I don’t mean age. To do anything in this town now you have to get 60 votes. And it is certainly not the way that many of the people who work in the Senate, including senators, thought that this is the way it ought to work.” He added that he and the White House feel “frustration” that funding for the “Pentagon and for our troops” is delayed, while reiterating President Obama’s commitment to the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the Dream Act, included in the bill. “I don’t think this is the end,” said Gibbs. “Obviously there will be a whole host of issues including DADT that remain undecided. Our focus right now trying to get the business of the people done as congress remains in sessions.”
Meanwhile, failed Republican presidential candidate, Arizona Senator John McCain, who the successful GOP manoeuver filibustering a United States Senate vote on “don’t ask, don’t tell” had an odd exchange with two reporters – both openly gay – Kerry Eleveld of the Advocate and Chris Geidner of Washington D.C.’s Metro Weekly, who questioned McCain on his erroneous assertion that the military does not “go out and seek to find out someone’s sexual orientation.” The Washington Post has the video and a transcript.
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