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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / (More) Repub Venality Open Thread: Senator ‘Traitor’ Tuberville

(More) Repub Venality Open Thread: Senator ‘Traitor’ Tuberville

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Traitor Tuberville - STOCKPILE

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

 

Steve Benen, at MSNBC — “Dem senator: Tuberville made a ‘smoking gun confession’ on blockade”:

… Originally, his defense related to abortion policy. Now the coach-turned-politician is pretending to understand the military, justifying his blockade by suggesting there’s no real need to promote these decorated military officers.

Indeed, as Pentagon officials have made clear that senator’s antics are currently undermining his own country’s military, the Republican has left little doubt that he doesn’t care about the consequences of his blockade.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed tends to be one of Capitol Hill’s most understated voices, but the Rhode Island Democrat issued a statement on Friday making clear that he was not pleased with Tuberville’s latest rhetoric.

“Senator Tuberville’s shocking admission that he ‘doesn’t care if they promote anybody’ is a smoking gun confession,” Reed said in a written statement.

“How can any U.S. senator not care about the promotions of honorable, hardworking military leaders who have dedicated their lives and careers to service?” the chairman added. “These are the best of the best and they risk their lives to defend our freedoms. Everyone should care and I hope Senator Tuberville will rethink his indifference and retract his statement.”

He has not retracted his statement.

Around the same time, Sen. Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed hope that Senate Republicans will eventually “get their colleague … to end his blockade.” The Virginia Democrat added that he believes there will come a point at which GOP senators “will not enable this destructive behavior” any longer.

Tuberville turned to social media soon after with a two-word response: “Good luck.”


‘Course, Coach Tommy’s been pretty busy with his day-trading sideline…

LEST WE FORGET:

Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    Alison Rose

    Some military guys need to get Tatertown in a backroom and kick the shit out of him until he agrees to stop this nonsense. No one dipshit in Congress should have all this power.

  2. 2.

    kindness

    There are several Senate ‘traditions’ that need to change.  Unanimous consent is one.  The filibuster is another.  Otherwise we’ll never have a functional democratic republic again

    In a more polite era, these traditions might have worked.  Now they are quaint ideas shown not to work in this era.

  3. 3.

    piratedan

    almost makes you wonder if the Alabama Senate seat could be in play with this kind of public douchebaggery.

     

    Would be fun to see every GOP guest being questioned on this during their usual meet the GOP Sunday morning shows….

  4. 4.

    Mai Naem mobileI

    Alabamanians chose this crooked traitor over Doug Jones. Thom Hartman says Tuberville is pulling this crap so that if TFG wins in 2024 he gets to appoint MAgat generals who will follow his orders.

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    Democrats need to make him the poster child for hurting the military. There need to be ads on him not only in Alabama, but in every swing state. That the GOP doesn’t care about our military. They should go around asking every Republican in the Senate and record their non-answers. Esp, every GOP Senator up for re-election in 2024

  6. 6.

    laura

    My God, this is so UnAmerican, I am left without words. It’s shocking eventhough I knew this was about hollowing out military leadership and nothing to do with reproductive healthcare of our military members.

  7. 7.

    Ksmiami

    Schumer needs to pave over him yesterday and Biden should start shutting bases in AL. Fuck the Republican traitor trash. Enough.

  8. 8.

    Carlo Graziani

    Everybody understands that the Senate GOP is 100% behind Tuberville’s hold on military promotions, right?
    He couldn’t maintain it this long if they didn’t support him.

    This part I’m a bit skeptical of. Tuberville is tying all Senate Republicans to the lethally toxic abortion politics that many of them wish could be backburnered before the election. Their chances of running re-election campaigns that don’t turn into referenda on women’s choice go through the Senate GOP shutting this motherfucker down. I make it even odds that they’ll do exactly that, and call it “patriotism.”

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    They need to get the attention of this shit-eating idiot. Suggest to the media that Alabama has too many military bases.

    I’m old enough to remember reading MAD Magazine where they spelled ALABAMA and all of the “A”s were drawn as KKK hoods.

  11. 11.

    Jackie

    @Mai Naem mobileI: “Tuberville is pulling this crap so that if TFG wins in 2024 he gets to appoint MAgat generals who will follow his orders.”

    And the GQP senators are ok with this.🤬

  14. 14.

    Kent

    @Jackie: A lot of these top brass lean Republican.

    Maybe this stunt will make some of them question their fealty to the GOP such as it is.

  15. 15.

    Redshift

    @kindness:

    In a more polite era, these traditions might have worked.

    In more polite eras, the filibuster was used to “politely” protect slavery after it was accidentally invented and to “politely” defend Jim Crow against civil rights.

    It’s nearly always been a bad tradition used to defend terrible things. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a fine movie, but in terms of how government works, it’s pure propaganda.

  16. 16.

    Carlo Graziani

    @laura:  Yeah. Right up to the point in August 2024 where Democratic Senate PACs start airing commercials showing Senator X’s face juxtaposed to Tuberville’s, while the voiceover explains that these two are so anti-choice that they are willing to undermine US military readiness to take away women’s rights to take care of their own bodies.

    I give it until next October at the outside, before the waxing flop sweat that the Senate GOP is developing over abortion politics stampedes them into shutting him down.

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    @kindness: This is blatant enough that it might actually push some Senators into wanting to change the rules. Very sadly, the D majority is thin enough that doing so, even under a ‘majority rules, suck it up’ approach (aka ‘the nuclear option’), we’d need pretty much the entire caucus, including Manchin and or Sinema, to want to do so.

    Still, eroding the so-called grand traditions of the Senate slowly but steadily proceeds.

  20. 20.

    kalakal

    When/if the Rethugs make their next coup attempt and call on the military to put down protests via the Insurrection Act they may very well get an object lesson in malicious compliance

  21. 21.

    laura

    @Carlo Graziani: tut tut little lady, the supreme court will never overturn Roe V Wade. For fucking fuck’s sake, look at what the GOP has planned, in writing, and get off your ass before October, when cooler heads will prevail. This is a fucking five alarm fire, and if we refuse to see it, we will not fight it, and that might be OK for you, but its sure as shit not OK for others. This is not about abortion, this about firing civil servants and replacing them with Nazis who are selected by trump. It’s not rocket surgery, it’s nascent fascism.

    Commercials, on TV, in the fall of 2024, who do you think watches TV? That’s the solution? My God.

    https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/07/trump-reelected-aides-plan-purge-civil-service/374842/

  23. 23.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @eclare: in the previous post you commented on releasing mugshots. The department can’t post the photo to any website, etc. They can release it via FOIA requests, which is what happened with Eastman.

  26. 26.

    dmsilev

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, exactly. Manchin would probably also be a no just because he seems to enjoy being a cantankerous ass about things like this.

    Also worth remembering that Democrats like having the same ability to hold nominations. It’s just that they do it one at a time and not by the hundreds, so it’s annoying and more for grandstanding (cough Bernie Sanders cough) rather than an act of outright sabotage.

  27. 27.

    Jackie

    Off topic, but funny: Rudy is apparently begging Fani Willis for more time because he can’t find a Georgia qualified attorney.😂

    Maybe with his finance difficulties, he’ll be appointed a state-appointed attorney.

    Or suggest he’s willing to flip…

  30. 30.

    Carlo Graziani

    @laura:  Uh, I think that you and I may be in different conversations.

    First of all, “Tut tut, little lady” is not me. I regret that you heard that anyway, but you put that in.

    On the subject of the five-alarm fire, and the threat to democracy, and where we stand with respect to that—not at all what I was discussing—I wrote a rather lengthy piece on the origins, consequences, and outlook on of the global nationalist/populist movement that BJ was kind enough to publish, and while it is a bit dated, I think it at least testifies to the fact that I give these sorts of issues sufficient attention and thought to deserve not being condescended on the subject.

    As to what I was attempting to discuss, it was really a far more pedestrian point concerning tactics of electoral politics. Tuberville’s blockade is explicitly motivated by his demand that the US military cease facilitating travel by female service members to places where they may legally receive abortions. So his action is, in fact, intimately tied to US abortion politics. Which has, in fact, turned into a third rail for the GOP. And Tuberville is, in fact, offering up an extremely serviceable weapon to 2024 Democratic Senate candidates who wish to exploit the Dobbs backlash—which is to say, all 2024 Democratic Senate candidates. That’s all.

  33. 33.

    Aj

    @Mai Naem mobileI: exactly. They want a compliant military for the next coup.

    And how many of these officers are POC?

    Tuberville has a ponzi scheme history. He lives in fla. Please censure him. This is not about abortion travel.

  36. 36.

    West of the Rockies

    @eclare:

    Anyone have any ideas why Flynn has not been indicted on the 1/6 insurrection?  I suspect he was deeply involved in the planning.  Am I mistaken?

  37. 37.

    Yutsano

    Here’s a thought, and just bear with me here:

    His.
    Reasons.
    Don’t.
    Matter.

    This is mindless obstruction based on arcane rules that shouldn’t apply anymore. Maybe it’s time to put this shit on the woodpile or convince Coach Tubby resignation is the best option or else we sic ProPublica on his ass. You know there’s some dirt hiding from his coaching days.​

    EDIT: FYWP. Your stupid “rules” also need some work.

  38. 38.

    eclare

    @West of the Rockies:

    I wonder that too.  Along with whether his bro, still active, has been questioned.  I am guessing and hoping that there is a lot going on that we don’t know about.

    Superseding indictments and all.

  39. 39.

    Origuy

    Tuberville is withholding unanimous consent, but can’t they put each nomination up for a vote the usual way? It would take weeks, given the timeline required, but once the Senate is back in session, they should start with the Chiefs of Staff and work their way down.

  40. 40.

    eclare

    @Yutsano:

    Agree.  Motives don’t matter, and all coaches, especially at AU, have lots of buried controversies.  I went to an SEC school, AU is more corrupt than most, which everyone knows.  And that is saying a lot.

  41. 41.

    Fake Irishman

    The problem here is the volume. The Senate can easily get around any one of these holds — there are almost certainly 95 or more votes for each of these folks, more than enough to crush a filibuster. The problem is that it takes valuable floor time. Running each of these 250+nominations through debate will take up weeks of floor time that we need to confirm judges, fed reserve folks, district attorneys (there’s another hold on those folks) etc. the military and VA are two of the last areas where nominees can usually go through on a voice vote or unanimous consent. (Sometimes groups of ambassadors can too). If we start having to confirm every general, it will be impossible to get anything done.

    That’s why Schumer isn’t budging — the tradition of getting these folks through in bulk is worth delayibg in floor votes.

    Also, most generals despite being Senate confirmed, are internal promotions within the service (not handpicked by the president)

  42. 42.

    karen marie

    @Ksmiami: I haven’t heard Schumer’s name in so long, I forgot he was MAJORITY LEADER.

    It’s easy to think the GOP has a majority given McConnell & Co. seem to be running the senate, not Schumer.

  43. 43.

    dirge

    @Fake Irishman: Senate can easily get around any one of these holds… The problem is that it takes valuable floor time.

    No, it’s much worse than that.  If you take them one at a time, then Republicans can let through the ones they find acceptable, and block the handful they don’t like for political reasons.

    So now you’ve weakened your own hand, because it’s just a holdup to a couple specific people, not military readiness generally.  If filling the spot is so important, why not accept an alternative candidate Republicans prefer?  You’ve established the precedent that a minority in the senate can pick and choose military officers based on political criteria.

    Merely discussing that is extremely dangerous, let alone doing it, for reasons the reader is invited to elaborate on in their worst nightmares.

  44. 44.

    dirge

    @Fake Irishman: That’s why Schumer isn’t budging — the tradition of getting these folks through in bulk is worth delaying in floor votes.

    Right, but not primarily because of floor time.  The principle to defend here is that the senate should generally ratify leadership decisions made within the military, rather than micromanage internal military affairs, excepting truly extraordinary cases.

    Confirmation of promotions is a device for knocking out obviously problematic people like Flynn, not for generally shaping the ideology of military leadership.

    Schumer, et al, must not give an inch on this.

  45. 45.

    Nelle

    @Carlo Graziani: Iowa’s Joni Ernst responded to my query by saying she is prolife and totally supports Tuberville.  But she will proclaim her vet status in the next election.   She’s an idiot.

  47. 47.

    Betty

    TV ad: Why is Senator Tuberville providing aid and comfort to America’s biggest adversaries?

  48. 48.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @laura: Even if it is about abortion, that does not make it better. Abortion is a rage-inducing injury and insult to most of the population, who are being told the GOP is, indeed, the boss of them.

  50. 50.

    sdhays

    @Mike in NC: Suggest to the media that Alabama has too many military bases.

    You may have missed this, but Senator Tuberville doesn’t even live in Alabama, so this isn’t the effective threat you (and others) think it is.

    Republicans aren’t expected to actually advocate for their states’ well-being. All federal support for Alabama could evaporate and (white) Alabamans wouldn’t punish their representatives in Congress.

  51. 51.

    Paul in KY

    @Ksmiami: I hate what Tuberville is doing. I will say though that if any Alabama resident who is hurt by his venal & anti-Armed Forces (O-6s and above and their spouses) voted for him, I would certainly point and laugh at them for being stupid maroons.

  52. 52.

    NorthLeft

    JFC, what kind of fucked up system do you guys have anyways?

    I find it completely incomprehensible that an individual Senator has the ability to politicize the military like this. I guess some people might point to the filibuster, but this is a “no effort” filibuster IMO. Tuberville basically does nothing to gum up the works besides withholding his approval.

    Oh yeah, to hell with Sinema and her compromise bullshit.

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