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Rachel Maddow interviewed Vice President Joseph Biden, who said he was personally involved in the effort to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the senate and expressed confidence that a potential Republican filibuster could be overcome.
On Wednesday Maddow asked Biden, a former senator from Delaware, whether he was personally involved in efforts to repeal the policy through the National Defense Authorization Act, he said, “Absolutely, I was personally involved in getting it out of committee. I not only think we should repeal it, I think everyone who was fired should be able to be reinstated if they want to.”
The vice president addressed the possibility that Republicans could introduce an amendment to strike DADT repeal from the bill, saying, “We’ve got the votes to defeat that.”
On the question of a Republican filibuster, Biden said, “I believe that at that point, the issue is, are these guys so out there, that they are willing to punish the defense department and the fighting women and men who we have in Afghanistan, which you just visited. Iraq. That’s the frame.”
“We have enough votes to sustain support for repeal don’t ask, don’t vote (sic), and we’re just going to push it as hard as we can,” said Biden.
Asked why discharges could not be stopped now while efforts to repeal the policy continue, Biden attributed it to “compromise.”
“That’s the compromise we basically had to make to get the votes to finally repeal it,” he said.
“In my view, if I could just wave a wand, it would just be flat repeal,” said Biden. “No one else would be suspended, and everyone suspended would be able to come back if they wanted to. But the truth of the matter is, we had to build a consensus for this. Everybody’s looking for the orderly elimination of this law.”
