For years, Democrats were plagued by unfair accusations that they were soft on this that and the other and that they didn’t support our troops. Turnabout is fair play: It’s time to level the same charges at Republicans because of the Tuberville Hold.
The Tuberville Hold sounds like either a dance move or poker stratagem, but it’s an attack on the military and our national security. Why is the idiot senator from Alabama doing this? In a word, Abortion:
“Despite warnings from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that vacant top military positions affect readiness, Congress is heading into August recess with hundreds of defense nominees on hold as Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville continues his protest against the Defense Department’s abortion leave policy.
As of Thursday, 301 military nominees had not yet reached the U.S. Senate floor for approval, normally a smooth and quick process for the upper chamber, which approves the nominees in large blocs.
Tuberville is blocking the nominations in response to a policy that supports service members’ travel for “non-covered reproductive health care.” The administration instituted the directive after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.”
It’s yet another example of egregious extremism. Republican opposition to abortion has become a theological issue. They’ve convinced themselves that abortion is synonymous with slavery and must be stomped out. It is not. It’s a personal decision that politicians should butt out of. The GOP claims to be the party of limited government, instead they’re the party that limits military readiness. If a Democrat perpetrated something like the Tuberville Hold, they’d be called unpatriotic.
Repeat after me: Turnabout is fair play.
The impact of the Tuberville Hold has been particularly severe on the Marine Corps.
“The blockade from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) on about 250 of the Pentagon’s general and flag officers has left the Marine Corps without a confirmed leader for the first time in 164 years.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger officially retired on Monday, leaving Assistant Commandant Gen. Eric Smith as the acting commandant and leader of the military branch until he is confirmed in the Senate.
The last time the Marine Corps was left with an acting commandant was in 1859, when Archibald Henderson, the fifth commandant of the Marines, died at 76 without a successor in place.”
164 years. That’s a long time. It’s a concept that even the white supremacy defending Senator from Alabama should understand. But his anti-abortion zealotry trumps everything.
Attacking the Marine Corps strikes me as shitty politics. The Marines are the most colorful branch of the military. They have the best uniforms, bands, and motto. Former Marines exchange the abbreviated motto Semper Fi whenever they meet.
Semper fidelis means always faithful. The Tuberville Hold spits on all that is good about the military to make a point about abortion. In a word: Disgusting.
Tuberville thinks he’s making a brave stand on an important issue. Instead, he’s damaging his party’s prospects at the next election. Attacks on abortion may be good politics in a GOP primary, but it’s a losing issue in the general election.
This is the second time in five days that I’ve bashed Bama. It’s well-deserved. Both the state lege’s massive resistance to SCOTUS and the Tuberville Hold reaffirm my belief that the GOP is a radical party. There’s nothing conservative about defying court orders and attacking the military. That’s not only fanatical it’s unpatriotic. There, I said it. That felt good.
This is one of those times that I miss John McCain. He’d be blasting the Tuberville Hold at every opportunity. But the GOP is no longer the party of strong defense and military preparedness. It’s now the party that criticizes the military for being woke and gives aid and comfort to Vladimir Putin.
Those of us who opposed the second Iraq War launched by the second Bush administration were often castigated for not supporting our troops. That rhetoric rings hollow as the Tuberville Hold drags on. It’s time for Coach Tubs to salute the flag and release his hold on military nominations. It’s the patriotic thing to do.
Repeat after me: Why Do Republicans Hate The Military?
The last word goes to a typically fine United States Marine Corps band on parade in London:
I’ll go contrarian and say this isn’t just a one-man grandstand play. If Sen. Tuberville’s antics really distressed his Senate Republican colleagues, they’d end this nonsense yesterday. But it’s been going on for months, and you don’t hear a McCainian peep out of the Minority Leader or anyone else on that side of the aisle. They approve of the Tuberville Hold. I agree, though, that Democrats should be hammering the Republicans at every opportunity (and create opportunities to bring it up again and again).
Tubs is just not listening. McConnell and Murkowski have asked him to stop but he refuses. I’m sure many others like it but it’s far from unanimous.
My reading on the requests that Sen Tuberville knock it off is with pretty much the same fervor as Willie Wonka telling kids, “Stop. Don’t. Come back.” Which is to say, easily ignored by a highly-motivated brat of a child.
Because they really don’t have a problem with what he’s doing,especially since he’s taking all the heat.