Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The big event today is the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Pentagon's DADT report, which begins at 9:00 AM ET. The witnesses are Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen and the authors of the report: Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson and General Carter Ham. The Senate Armed Services Committee will livecast the event here. The hearing will also be broadcast on C-SPAN 3.

Yesterday, the entire GOP caucus signed a letter stating that there will be no action on anything until they get their way on government spending and tax cuts. Yes, the Republicans suck -- and Susan Collins is a hypocrite and fraud if she abandons her commitment to equality. But, let's not forget that we're in this mess because of the strategy concocted by the White House. Back in February, there was a deliberate decision made to release the Pentagon report on December 1st. That would leave little time to finish the work before the Congress adjourned. So, here we are. There's still time to do this if there's the political will. And, if it doesn't happen, there's plenty of blame to go around. But, it's is a "political disaster" for the President -- and he needs some wins these days, not more losses.

The Washington Post has a very strong editorial calling for passage of the DREAM Act. That should be another no-brainer.

I know I'm stating the obvious, but it really feels like there is no decency whatsoever among so many elected officials. None.

It is the holiday season, though you wouldn't know it by the way members of the GOP are acting on Capitol Hill.

Happy Hannukah to all who are celebrating.