11 mo. ago • 98%

Senate Democrats launch effort to bypass Tommy Tuberville's hold on military promotions

www.nbcnews.com Senate Democrats launch effort to bypass Tommy Tuberville's hold on military promotions

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has blocked quick approval of more than 300 top-level military promotions in protest of the Defense Department's abortion travel policy.

30 comments

Good. Military readiness shouldn't be politicized. Tiberville has been blocking this simply because he thinks the military is "woke".

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- Nah, I'm guessing there's an alterior motive to it. Maybe with the intent to install yes men in those positions if someone other than Biden gets elected.
  
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  I think you're giving MAGA too much credit. With them the protest is usually "the point". They don't expect to win or even capitalize on any gains. They just want to pitch a fit and get popularity for it. Their constituents aren't concerned with results only bitching.
  
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- GIven how long he's been doing it for, there's absolutely no way it's because of that.
  
  That's just what he says for his PR, because his base hates "woke"
  
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  You think some foreign interests could have a hand in this? It'd make sense.
  
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“I don’t want to, let’s just put it like that,” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told NBC News on Wednesday. “I do not want to, and I think that we need to take every avenue possible to avoid it. And then let’s take every avenue first and then we’ll debate the next move.”

"We should first do a whole lot of things that are not going to work, and only then should we debate on what to do."

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- "We've done nothing and we're all out of ideas."
  
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I was disappointed at first that Schumer seemed to cave and agree to individual votes, but it's turned out to be a masterstroke of a political move. He called Tuberville's bluff, and Tuberville still objected on individual appointments, despite saying he wouldn't.

The good optics for Democrats here are obvious, but what this has also done is intensify tensions within the GOP. Several Republican senators, who are incredibly conservative, have been visible and vocally angry at Tuberville objecting on an individual basis as well. Lindsey Graham directly told Tuberville that he was denying excellent people promotions.

Give in to Republican demands for a compromise, and they'll move the goalposts and make new demands. Schumer beautifully exploited that here. There may be enough Republican anger now to vote for a rule change that allows bypassing Tuberville.

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He wants a military that will support the next Republican coup attempt, or no military at all.

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Taking bets now: Which Democrat is gonna be the single deciding vote that blocks this?

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- The article explains that he measure needs 60 votes, meaning at least nine republicans.
  
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  Tuberville is right about one thing. The maga base is going to go after senators that vote against his little abortion blockade because they’re stupid as Fuck. But they’re also fanatical about pretending to support the military while doing nothing to actually support them. So they’re also going to face heat the more they go against these promotions.
  
  It’s Schrödingers fascist paradox. They’ve boxed themselves into these culture wars topics and now have no proper outlet. They need to remain pro military no matter what but must also harm the military by being anti abortion no matter what.
  
  These chicken shit needle dick politicians are scared shitless about what will happen if they are perceived as anti maga so they are paralyzed by fear. We all suffer for their stupidity.
  
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  Right. So if we get 9 Republicans (It'll be exactly 9 if we do, since as few as possible are going to risk the wrath of the base), we'll see one turncoat Democrat.
  
  Of course, I'd be happy to be wrong, but it's not like Senate Democrats have provided me with an abundance of reasons to be optimistic.
  
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Why would a MAGA Republican want to weaken the military? I wonder…

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

A resolution crafted by Democrats and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona would use a Senate tool to bypass Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who for months has prevented a quick vote on more than 300 top-level military promotions in protest of the Defense Department’s abortion travel policy.

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.

“We have to move forward," he added, noting that military personnel were being left "in limbo" amid the Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Schumer called Mahoney's appointment "urgent," after the Marine Corps’ commandant, Gen. Eric Smith, was hospitalized due to a medical emergency over the weekend.

In a notable intraparty escalation, Republicans on Wednesday went to the floor for the first time to try and unanimously approve a group of high-level military promotions, a tactic that Tuberville has objected to.

“One of the things that I can’t understand is if you require our military to be subordinate to the people above them in the civilian world, why would you punish them for something they’ve got nothing to do with,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on the Senate floor before attempting to confirm a promotion for Maj. Gen. Laura Lenderman.

The original article contains 936 words, the summary contains 215 words. Saved 77%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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If I were him I would be very concerned about disgruntled military personnel deciding that liquidating a senator was worth it.

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