today was a clear cut case of politics trumping policy. it s a sign of what washington is like today, that a majority of lawmakers could not pass a bill a majority of american z said they want. it s a sign of what washington is like, that a number of senators voted against what they say they re for. dana bash has been following the political posturing on capitol hill. what happened today? how is that do you believe that s accurate? is that essentially what happened? politics trumping personal opinions here? politics in process. look. i mean, there s no other way around it. i ll tell you, first thing this morning i was getting word on my blackberry that harry reid was going to hold a vote despite progress in those talks we talked about last night. it was very fluid. but the fact is, when the vote actually happened, it was a surprise. blanche lincoln, it s not her fault she was at the dentist because she didn t know it was coming. when reid did this, he flatly said he did not belie
ask don t tell today. she was the only republican to do so. senator reid who has been negotiating with collins is also getting blamed by supporters of the repeal who believe he forced the vote today, even though he knew it would fail to pass because republicans wanted more debate and had promised to act first on tax cuts. so this afternoon on the floor of the senate, reid said they had to vote today because time had simply run out. this has been taking months to do this. months. and the time is gone, as senator levin has said, to stop playing around with this. now, whatever you think of ending don t ask, don t tell, and we don t take sides on policy issues on this program, today was a clear cut case of politics trumping policy. it s a sign of what washington is like today, that a majority of lawmakers could not pass a bill a majority of american z said they want. it s a sign of what washington is like, that a number of senators voted against what they say they re for. dana bash has