Originally Posted by rock steady

We should be careful not to conflate 56 (57 with Reid) affirmative votes for beginning debate on the Defense Authorization Bill with with 57 affirmative votes for the DREAM Act. They are not the same. A vote to begin debate on the defense bill is just that. And while most of those that voted yes on Tuesday will also vote yes on DREAM, some will not. Therefore, it's not just a matter of getting "only 3 more GOP votes."

As long as there is some hope that DREAM will be reconsidered, then I'm fine with that. But that in no way should contribute to any belief that we only need the votes of a few sympathetic GOPers. We have to approach this like we have no GOP votes.