Richard Burr, Republican of NC voted for DADT Repeal. What ? This is incredible. nt

[AlinPA]

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. He Probably Has An Eye On History

.

[dkf]

2. Exactly.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. It's The Southerners Who Opposed Segregation That History Now Looks Favorably Upon

.

[dkf]

10. It could actually be the most significant historic vote he will take in his entire career

I'm glad he saw the light.

[bluestateguy]

5. Lord knows his family history in politics is pretty tainted

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_burr

Yep. He's related to THAT Aaron Burr.

[Scruffy1]

11. Who was quite likeable and very liberal

[Taverner]

12. Nuthin wrong with a good DUEL!

Why, suh - you have insulted mah family LONG enough!

Prepare to duel!

[notesdev]

3. story

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/134381-burr-explains-vote-switch-on-dont-ask-dont-tell

[eleny]

26. He won't be welcome at FreeRepublic

:rofl:

[stray cat]

6. People work together everyday when we merge in traffic - some of us can work together on some issues

[veganlush]

7. but he was great in

"Perry Mason"

[valerief]

8. And the early Godzilla movie.

[veganlush]

21. yes. precisely.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. And Ironside

.

[Chipper Chat]

16. And Rear Window.

[veganlush]

22. yes,

I'll never forget him saying: "book 'em, Danno"

[Tunkamerica]

13. NC's got a pretty big military population.

Air Force Bases

* Pope Air Force Base - Fayetteville
* Seymour Johnson Air Force Base - Goldsboro

Army Posts

* Fort Bragg - Fayetteville
* Simmons Army Airfield - Fort Bragg - Fayetteville, NC

Coast Guard Bases

* USCG Air Station Elizabeth City

Marine Bases

* Camp Lejeune Marine Base - Jacksonville
* Cherry Point Air Station - Havelock
* New River Air Station - Jacksonville

Navy Bases

* Cherry Point Naval Air Depot - north of Havelock

[bluestate10]

14. NC is also becoming a Blue State. Take a look at most of the Congressional delegation, the Governor

Burr may have sensed wall closing in on him. Also, one does not know what type of constituent calls and email he got leading up to the vote. His turn around was a surprise. Something turned him.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

19. Republicans just took control of both chambers of the General Assembly...

first time in over 100 years. Marshall lost to Burr and Etheridge lost to some no-name. While there are pockets, this state is hardly blue. Obama barely won in 2008 and he's got his work cut out for him in 2012, especially if the unemployment situation does not improve. Based on what's going with school diversity in Wake County, not all of those moving in from points north are Democrats. There are a lot of wealthy Republican country clubbers retiring here.

[bluestate10]

24. Thanks for the insight. My view was distorted. nt.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

27. Let's just put it this way, it's a CONSTANT battle.

Powerful and well-financed good ol' boys throughout the state fight any sort of progress. Just one example: rail. If there were ever an area that would THRIVE with rail, it's the Triangle:

--State capital.
--3 major universities and many, many others.
--Research Triangle Park.
--International airport.

(I lived in Arlington/Alexandria (Virginia) and watched, for three decades, the boom that came with the Metro.)

Also, there's a big local food/sustainable agriculture following, in spite of the presence of huge factory farms in the eastern part of the state. Pork rules, and chicken may some day, too. The pork industry fought legislation to regulate puppy mills, because, God forbid, animals should have any sort of protections.

http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/pork-council-busted-for-killing-puppy-mill-bill/

Battle. Constant.

[racaulk]

15. I was really surprised by his vote today.

Of all the Republicans that voted in favor of repeal today (there were a total of eight, IIRC), his vote was the most surprising to me. Especially after he voted no on invoking cloture.

I'm glad he voted to repeal DADT today. Regardless of his reasons, he did the right thing.

[Tx4obama]

18. Yes, there were eight republican 'yes' votes

Republican that voted 'yes' were:
Collins
Snowe
Brown
Murkowski
Voinovich
Kirk
Ensign
Burr

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00281

And the senators that did NOT vote were:
Bunning (R-KY)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Manchin (D-WV)

[Tx4obama]

17. Even Senator Susan Collins was taken by surprise

She was the one rounding up the republican votes and even she didn't know that Burr was going to vote 'yes'.

Excerpt from Politico.com

SNIP..... But while Kirk and Ensign had previously indicated they were open to voting for repeal, Burr’s vote came as a surprise even to the sponsors of the legislation. Collins, who led the charge for repeal in the Senate with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, said she lobbied every other GOP senator who voted for repeal, except for the North Carolina Republican.

“I was confident going into the vote today that we had six to seven votes. I didn't not expect eight,” said Collins. “I was delighted but surprised with the vote from Sen. Burr. I think that was a gutsy vote and I was delighted. But he was not someone who I thought to lobby on the issue.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46578.html#ixzz18WMlc3xp

[moose65]

20. I was shocked!

But yeah, he knew it was going to pass, and he probably wanted to be on the right side of history. Also, he just got re-elected, so he doesn't have to worry about facing voters for 6 more years, which is a lifetime in politics. By the time 2016 comes around, this issue will be dead and no one will try to use it against him. In fact, we'll wonder what all the fuss was about. Prediction: Republicans will start to take credit for this at some point, just like they try to take credit for the Civil Rights Act.

[Jamastiene]

23. He said he was more concerned with the timing...

He knew repealing DADT was the right thing to do.

That is, basically, what his statement about it said:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6132298/conservative_nc_senator_votes_to_end.html

[butterfly77]

25. They are playing this up for...

next year so they can throw this up in the our faces that they are being bipartasan I can hear them now on day one.. They will throw ensign and whoever the other CONS are who voted for the bill,everytime a Dem says they are the party of NO they will say "but I voted for DADT.

The same thing goes for the tax bill,they needed some CONS to say they didn't go along with it so they will be using Pence,DeMint and some other assholes to prove their point. Same goes for START,etc..this is part of the CONS strategy for next year... They will get away with it because some people are stupid and still can't see who fucked up this country in the first place....