Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is taking hits from all sides for continuing his hold on military promotions in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists.
Not only is the retired football coach being blasted by his Republican colleagues in the Senate, one veteran of the Iraq War has accused him of acting like a “political suicide bomber.”
“[W]e had 37 attacks and counting on U.S. troops in Syria and in Iraq. And we’ve got 300 more headed to the Middle East now,” veteran Paul Rieckhoff, founder and executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told MSNBC’s “Deadline White House” host Nicolle Wallace. “So this is happening at a time when Putin is grateful. Hamas loves this. Tuberville is doing the work of our enemies.”
“All of the chickens are coming home to roost, the things that we have been talking about for months together, are now coming to fruition in the worst case scenario…where we have troops in conflict.” @PaulRieckhoff w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/PZeqpFN7H8
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) November 1, 2023
As BizPac Review has reported, Tuberville put his hold on military promotions in place in March in protest of the Pentagon’s policy of paying for female servicemembers to travel for out-of-state abortions. The Pentagon’s move came after several states placed restrictions on the procedure.
Following the attack on Israel, Tuberville’s camp denied his hold would affect military readiness.
“[T]he hold is not affecting our readiness or the readiness of any other country,” a spokesperson for Tuberville insisted on Oct. 12, days after the savage invasion of Israel.
To date, Tuberville’s protest has held up “more than 300 top-level military promotions,” according to NBC News.
Rieckhoff likened Tuberville to a “terrorist.”
“He’s undermining our national security and he’s not backing down. So an off-ramp is unlikely,” he stated.
“What the Democrats and Republicans, I hope, can do is figure out a way to run him over,” he continued. “He’s a political extremist. He’s kind of like a political suicide bomber. You can’t negotiate with a terrorist. He’s not going to back down. The question is, what do the Democrats – and I hope the Republicans too – do to steamroll him? Because he’s not going to move.”
Republican warmonger Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), among others, is trying his best to do just that.
“I’m hearing McConnell deputies and allies, including Lindsay Graham, Joni Ernst, Todd Young, and Dan Sullivan, told colleagues today they’re planning an attack on Tommy Tuberville’s hold on military promotions, modeled after Elizabeth Warren’s attack a few months ago,” Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist, reported on Wednesday.
According to her, the Pentagon’s policy is “completely illegal,” and Tuberville’s resolve has exposed the military’s “woke” agenda.
“Tuberville has blocked unaccountable, review-free unanimous consent for military promotions — all due to the Pentagon’s completely illegal abortion funding policy,” she wrote on X. “During his hold on this easy approval (that would otherwise occur without even a vote) it’s been discovered that more than 40% of the nominees are beholden to DEI and other left-wing ideology at odds with an effective fighting force.”
“The plan to run interference for Biden admin and its woke Pentagon is reportedly scheduled for 6p tonight. Just FYI,” she added. “We’ll see who exactly is involved and what happens.”
I’m hearing McConnell deputies and allies, including Lindsay Graham, Joni Ernst, Todd Young, and Dan Sullivan, told colleagues today they’re planning an attack on Tommy Tuberville’s hold on military promotions, modeled after Elizabeth Warren’s attack a few months ago. Tuberville…
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) November 1, 2023
“It’s about the right to life,” Tuberville argued on Wednesday in defense of his actions. “These are some of the most important things in the world to me.”
Seeing his moment to shine, Graham didn’t disappoint, much to the delight of the giddy left.
“You’ve just denied this lady a promotion,” Graham told Tuberville, holding up a photo of one of the blocked nominees. “You did that. All of us are ready to promote her because she deserves to be promoted. She had nothing to do with this policy. Let me say it again. Everybody in this body could find an issue with any administration they don’t agree with. And what we’re going to do is open up a Pandora’s box.”
“No matter whether you believe it or not, Senator Tuberville, this is doing great damage to our military,” he later stated. “I don’t say that lightly.”
Even Lindsey Graham, who’s for a national abortion ban, is all out of fu@ks when it comes to Tommy Tuberville.
“You just denied this lady a promotion. You did that. All of us are ready to promote her because she deserves to be promoted.”
More of this please, because it’s going… pic.twitter.com/jWf1bMajTO
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) November 2, 2023
Rieckhoff was thrilled with the RINOs’ who raced to condemn Tuberville.
“The Tuberville ridiculousness has finally come to a head—with his fellow Republicans,” he wrote on X. “It’s long past time for GOP moderates like @MittRomney and self-proclaimed supporters of the military like @LindseyGrahamSC to step up and end this radical madness from Tuberville.”
The Tuberville ridiculousness has finally come to a head—with his fellow Republicans. It’s long past time for GOP moderates like @MittRomney and self-proclaimed supporters of the military like @LindseyGrahamSC to step up and end this radical madness from Tuberville. https://t.co/T0LeLCg97U
— Paul Rieckhoff (@PaulRieckhoff) November 1, 2023
Others called the lack of Republican support for the conservative senator “outrageous.”
“The fact that some Republicans would pressure their own,” remarked Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, “as opposed to pressuring Biden on his DEI nonsense (at the Defense Department, no less!), is outrageous.”
The fact that some Republicans would pressure their own, as opposed to pressuring Biden on his DEI nonsense (at the Defense Department, no less!), is outrageous. https://t.co/Xsrr1kKe9c
— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) November 1, 2023
Meanwhile, NBC News reports, “A resolution crafted by Democrats and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona would use a Senate tool to bypass Sen. Tommy Tuberville.”
“The measure — spearheaded by Democratic Sens. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sinema — is not technically a rules change,” the outlet explains. “Instead, it’s a temporary process change that would only be in effect through the end of next year. It also includes an exception for members of the joint chiefs and combatant commanders, positions which typically involve individual floor votes in the Senate due to their importance.”
“This is a suspension of the rules technically,” Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told NBC News. “We have to move forward.”
In response to the “urgent” need to promote Marine Corps’ second-in-command, Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney — the chief of naval operations and the Air Force chief of staff — after a medical emergency forced Marine Corps’ commandant, Gen. Eric Smith into the hospital, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) agrees with Reed’s proposed resolution.
“What happened with the Marine commandant just showed many people how dangerous what Tuberville is doing is,” Schumer said. “And so, I will call for a resolution on the floor to allow us to vote on all these people at once.”
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