Senator John McCain and his wife Cindy appear to be on different sides of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: Ms. McCain recently recorded a spot for a “NOH8″ campaign that was a blatant critique of the policy of no openly gay military members, but then clarified via Twitter that she still supported her husband’s stance against reforming the controversial policy. This was perfect fodder for The Daily Show‘s host Jon Stewart, who presented a very similar case against McCain has Rachel Maddow did earlier in the evening.

This morning on Meet The Press, David Gregory talked to Senator John McCain about his position on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — and his wife’s differing opinions on the issue as well.

“I want a thorough and complete study on the effect on morale and battle effectiveness of the United States military. I will listen, as I’ve said for years, to our military leaders, and not a study that is leaked,” McCain said.

Sean Bielat is the GOP candidate for Massachusetts’ 4th District, running against the legendary Barney Frank (D -MA). Perhaps because Frank is an openly gay member of Congress, the issue of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has taken on added significance in this race. Today Mr. Bielat made absolutely clear where he stands on the controversial issue, though his choice of words may raise some eyebrows, as he compared not allowing gays to serve akin to the minimum height required by the armed services.

Who: Alec Baldwin, Jeffrey Toobin, Judy Gold, moderated by Andy Borowitz
What: “The Borowitz Report: Midterm Madness!”
Where: 92nd St. Y
When: October 20, 2010
Thumbs: Up

Though a federal judge <a href=”http://www.mediaite.com/online/federal-judge-tells-military-to-stop-dont-ask-dont-tell-policy/” target=”_blank”>ordered the military to stop enforcing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell last Tuesday</a>, the controversial policy isn’t gone just yet. MSNBC is <a href=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39768949/ns/us_news/” target=”_blank”>reporting</a> that a federal appeals court has ruled that the Pentagon is permitted to temporarily reinstate a ban on gays in the military:

Some have suggested that President Obama has neither the political capital nor will to see the termination of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” through, which was the topic of conversation during today’s White House Press conference. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dealt with a rather aggressive set of questions over the Obama Administration’s handling of the political hot potato. Gibbs did reaffirm his statement from the weekend in which he proclaimed that the controversial policy would end under Obama.

Earlier today, Virginia Phillips, a judge of the United States District Court, issued a critical ruling suspending the U.S. military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy on gay servicemen and women. Whether it holds up or not, it’s a powerful strike against a policy President Barack Obama says he wants repealed – but, as The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan pointed out, it’s a strike that may die at the hands of the Obama administration’s Justice Department.

A federal judge has declared that the Military no longer enforce the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, effectively ending the military’s 17 year-old ban openly gay troops The US district judge is Virginia Phillips issued the ruling that will potentially change the face of the U.S. Military at home and abroad and has been widely cheered by gay rights organizations. The United States DOJ attorneys now have 60 days to appeal this ruling, thought they could just let Phillips ruling just stand.w have 60 days to appeal this ruling, thought they could just let Phillips ruling just stand.

When it was announced earlier in the week, a round table on Real Time with Bill Maher involving Andrew Breitbart and Seth MacFarlane sounded like a guaranteed shoutfest, with Amy Holmes of the Talk Radio Network caught in the crossfire. For anyone who eagerly popped the popcorn thinking Bill Maher was going to make it a bad night for his right-wing guests, it was a disappointing event: the discussion was amicable, civil, and shockingly ended in agreement.

Lt. Dan Choi, the gay rights advocate who, despite being a West Point graduate and fluent in Arabic, was discharged via Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, made the media rounds this morning to discuss the failure of Congress to turn down the law and why it is so counterproductive. Except this morning, he had to make the case on Judge Andrew Napolitano‘s Freedom Watch, meaning he had to sell that point to libertarians. It was easy: DADT is exorbitantly expensive.

Tuesday’s news that congressional efforts to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” had been derailed by the GOP made it to Jon Stewart‘s anchor desk in his patented style of reporting on the news a day and a half after other news outlets. But also in The Daily Show‘s inimitable style was Stewart’s clear and simple rundown of legislative gamesmanship and “strategery” that effectively killed the popular bill in such a way that could only lead both host and viewer to conclude that the United States is, in fact, run by a@@holes.<

While his side may have won the day in preventing a vote on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) appears to have lost the war with reporters after he loses his temper with two journalists from the gay press challenging him on the extent of investigations of gay servicemembers.

Despite the Lady GaGa’s best efforts, an attempt to get “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to a vote in the Senate has failed, with moderate Republican supporters of repeal joining with the rest of their party to continue a fillibuster on a defense funding bill. The 56-43 vote to end debate means both the attempt to end the policy barring gay and lesbian servicemembers and a larger defense funding bill may not receive a vote again until after the November elections.

It’s a strange time in a news story when Lady GaGa’s views on the future of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell are more important and get more coverage than Bill Clinton’s and Colin Powell’s.

Republican Senator James Inhofe took some time at the Value Voters Summit this week to explain in greater detail his ongoing desire to see Don’t Ask Don’t Tell upheld. Arguing that “you don’t have a constitutional right to serve in the military,” he warned that voting for a repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell would be the same as voting for “open gay activity” and “abortions in our hospitals.”

Earlier today, Lady Gaga posted a video on YouTube in which she asked her fans to tell their senators to vote in favor of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on Tuesday. Gaga then called both of New York state’s senators—Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer—as the camera continued to roll, intending to deliver her message directly to them.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has been one of television’s most vocal critics of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and has featured almost every major figure in the battle to repeal the law. R. Clarke Cooper is a captain in the Army Reserves, the head of a national gay rights organization, and an outspoken advocate for repealing DADT whose organization just won the biggest legal battle so far in challenging the rule. But even though Maddow says she’s desperate to get Republicans on her show, why can’t the head of the gay Log Cabin Republicans get booked?

At first, it seemed like just a coincidence. The day after Lady GaGa took discharged service members with her on the red carpet to the Video Music Awards and gave a shout-out to repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell during an acceptance speech, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scheduled a Senate vote on the rule that bars openly gay servicemembers. But now Reid’s campaign is tweeting GaGa that they are listening to her concerns about DADT.

A federal judge in California has found that the government’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy violates the First and Fifth Amendment rights of gay and lesbian military members and issued an injunction halting enforcement of the law. The case, brought by the gay Log Cabin Republicans, puts the Obama administration again in the position of potentially taking an appeal to the liberal U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit defending a law that is opposed by its powerful (and increasingly skeptical) lesbian and gay base.

Tweaking the White House from the “professional left,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow tonight encouraged the White House to stop enforcement of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell advsing President Obama that if he wants “history to look kindly on you” he should get liberals to cheer for him instead of bashing them and complaining about their criticism.

More than half a century later, the journalists of The Daily Show have uncovered the real reason for the inhuman cruelty of the Third Reich: every last one of those Nazis was gay. Or at least that’s what Scott Lively, the president of the organization Defend the Family, contends. In search of the truth, Jason Jones went deep into the heart of New York’s gay community to find evidence for Lively’s argument.

Security surrounding the supposedly confidential “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” survey has been lackluster, to say the least. First, the survey, which was sent to 400,000 non-deployed active troops, was leaked. And now, self-proclaimed gay rights activist and civilian blogger John Aravosis claims he was able to participate in a secondary portion of the Pentagon’s survey.

Now that we’re preparing to say goodbye to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (or at least we hopefully are), it’s a good time to look back on this controversial policy. And what better way to do that than by reading a hilarious nine-year-old comic book created by the military to explain the rules of neither asking or telling to our soldiers? Give up? I’m not surprised because there is literally no better way.

The military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law has been controversial for years. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that the process of its repeal might also cause some controversy. Advocacy group Servicemembers United acquired a copy of a Pentagon survey that included questions about DADT–and they’re displeased with what they’ve found.

On Countdown last night, Keith Olbermann had on author Dan Savage to discuss the opposition to the imminent repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the current policy that does not allow for openly gay members of the military. In opening the segment, Olbermann highlighted some of the most vocal (and insane?) opponents of the repeal of DADT portraying them as homophobic. And he’s absolutely right.