Wonder what Willard, Huck and the Quitter are going to say after it passes in the Senate — since they all think gays in the military should stay in the closet.

LGBT Americans need support for our goals in both parties — but we don’t need advocates who give in just when victory is at hand. Viewing Patrick Murphy’s actions that way doesn’t require a partisan lens, but it does require removing the rose-colored glasses Jonathan Capehart wears as he types up another screed against people who embarrassed Team Obama.

Amidst all the hoopla heading into Memorial Day weekend over the ‘repeal’ of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network very wisely posted a warning to all members of all service branches: nothing has changed. As a public service, I am re-posting SLDN’s warning here.

The Murphy amendment passes the House, 234-194, with 5 Republicans voting in favor. This means that the amendment is in the House and Senate versions of the bill, as of tonight. The five Republican votes in favor were Djou (HI), Cao (LA), Ron Paul (TX), Ros-Lehtinen (FL) and Biggert (IL).

The Senate Armed Services Committee, after a closed door session this evening, voted 16-12 for the Lieberman/Levin DADT ‘repeal’ that the full House will vote on tonight or Friday morning.

Well, the pro-”repeal” folks seem to have talked Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) into supporting their sham compromise, although they needed to add another step to the process to get his vote: a 60-day post-report review process to ensure Congress is happy with the certification provided by the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Most problematical is the third piece of the DADT “repeal” sham compromise — the first two are that the President, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs must certify the military is ready for open service and the second is allowing the military to complete its study. But the third concession may cause the most problems.

This sham DADT repeal might be in trouble given House Armed Services Chair Ike Skelton’s opposition. It can’t go through committee; it’ll need to be brought up on the House floor.

The Lieberman sham compromise on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell cedes control of the military from the law-making and law-executing branches of government to the United States military. In effect, this law says open service is legal, but only when the military pleases.

Today, Dennis Kucinich appeared at a rally with President Obama in Cleveland, despite the fact that the White House sent MoveOn to picket and threaten him if he honors his pledge and votes against the health care bill with no public option.

But that’s more than you can say for freshman Congressman John Boccieri, a military veteran who is on the GOP’s target list for the fall. He suddenly had to go to a dog-and-pony show in his district and watch a check being presented for a runway extension at a local airport and couldn’t appear with the President.