https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/09/tommy-tuberville-block-us-military-nominees-hamas-attack-israel
Republican US senator’s blockade is protest over Pentagon policy which facilitates abortions for service members and dependents
Every conservative is complicit. Every one of them supports this blockage. We should only refer to this as a conservative block and not a Tuberville block.
They're conservatives in the Wilhoit sense:
"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition ... There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” --Frank Wilhoit"
Definitely. Tuberville, who is safe in Alabama, gives a convenient out for every other conservative Senator. Make no mistake, they support Tuberville.
If the Democrats brought up a rules change vote and it failed, you could make that argument. Since they won't bother with that since they can make political hay out of this themselves, who really cares.
It's completely normal to not bring a vote when you know you don't have the support to pass. It would be a waste of time.
It's very naive to believe that is the case here. There's been no attempt to even drum up the support for a vote(they'd likely succeed with that btw). The Dems like this sideshow.
Edit: to quote Chuck
“The bottom line is, this is a problem created by Republicans, and it’s up to them to solve it,” he told reporters. “We’re not going to shift the burden to Democrats.”
No, they just aren't as stupid and unorganized as Republicans. They can do basic math and have discussions in good faith so they know it's not worth bringing it to a vote they know will fail. You are expecting them to be chest pounding idiots when you know they aren't.
So why did they bring the rules change for the filibuster and not this exactly? I don't see how anyone could argue this in good faith.
Yeah this isn't just about Tuberville wanting concessions to get the military to stop protecting female service members from state laws against abortion- it's also a fine pretext to hold open a raft of leadership positions to be filled with political appointees by the next GOP administration
This is 100% what the GOP wants. It worked for them in the judiciary and I am inclined to think it will work for them here. At first to make sure any non-conservative policy is removed and then to influence the military brass to setup for the next coup. I used to be a moderate voter and would vote for conservatives where their policies matched what I thought was reasonable and that I though I could count on to "do the right thing". The GOP drove any notion of that out of me forever with Trumpism.
The GOP is party over country and it's terrifying for our democracy. I LOATH Hillary Clinton and you'd have had to hold a gun to my head to get me to vote for her, but now I would vote for her in a heartbeat after what I've seen since ~2015.
I am somewhat hopeful that senate dems can use this as a pretext to change the rules and sideline minority blocks on these things. It’s clearly bad faith and the clock is ticking.
Unfortunately changing the rules takes more votes than the Dems have; they're still stuck using the same rules package McConnell left
Isn’t a senate rules change a straight 50? Seems like you should be able to whip manchin and sinema if military support for Israel is the order of the day.
Isn’t a senate rules change a straight 50?
To do it, you need cloture and that takes 60
This traitor needs to be exited from the Senate using his empty head to open the door. Then the CIA or NSA or FBI or hell, maybe Dept of the Treasury Office of Intelligence should take him to a black site and extract every name funding him.
That's the thing I found about MAGA. It's a pretty good short-term strategy, but it's always a Lose in the long-term. Come to think of it, that's conservatism in general.
Alas, both time and progress march forward, but conservatism by definition is rooted in the past
Military nominees are usually bundled together and confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate to speed along appointments but under the senate’s rules a single senator can hold up this process.
This is the real world consequences of republican 'leadership' in the house. Extreme republicans like tuberville and gaetz can capture attention from the traditional news outlets for weeks because they forced mccarthy to relax rules like this.
In this case it allows tuberville to rail against 'abortion' when he is actually attacking time off for reproductive care for women. It is not abortion he has an issue with; it is women caring about whether or not they can or should have a baby.
Wait a second, what do the Republican shitbirds in the House have to do with a vote happening in the Senate? House rules wouldn’t affect proceedings in the Senate.
Guess I got that mixed up with the house where gaetz was using his power to do something similar. It is all to easy for me as I ignore peoples titles. Maybe I subconsciously replace senator with professional liar. It is interesting that the same sort of rules do apply to the senate even though they technically have democratic leadership. Rules that require everyone to 'fall in line' are the product of a lazy and corrupt ruling class in my opinion.
So he's supposed to be saving lives of the unborn and not the lives of the Israeli civilians.
It would be a real shame if all the people of the US got tired of the complacency and corruption in the GOP. We don't have to be republicans to just get so upset we fill the streets outside of government buildings demanding their seats be freed for people willing to do the work.
No they can't. A majority vote can, but they can't change them whenever. Dems know they don't have the votes so they don't bring it to floor.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Republican US senator Tommy Tuberville has said he will continue to block hundreds of military leadership appointments despite the Hamas attack on Israel, a close American ally, that has triggered a deadly escalation in the Middle East conflict.
The former Auburn University football team coach turned Alabama senator has indicated he will maintain the blockade even in the wake of Hamas’ assault on Israel, in which at least 700 mostly civilians are thought to have died, including several hundred revelers killed at a music festival, while dozens more people are believed to have been taken hostage.
Israel has responded with airstrikes on the Gaza Strip that authorities in the penned-in territory say has killed at least 493 Palestinian people, including entire families sheltering in their apartments.
Invoking a name Tuberville calls himself because of his prior job, the spokesperson added: “If the Biden administration wants their nominees confirmed then Senate Democrats can do what Coach just did in September and file a cloture petition to force a vote.”
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, has said that individual votes on each of the nominees would eat up a huge amount of time and urged Republicans to get Tuberville “in line”.
Abortion has been effectively banned in several states following the US supreme court’s decision to overturn the longstanding Roe v Wade precedent last year – a move decried by progressives but lauded by conservatives like Tuberville.
The original article contains 580 words, the summary contains 237 words. Saved 59%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
If Biden had the cojones he'd have black-vanned this treasonous piece of shit months ago.
I too think the federal government should ignore laws whenever they feel it is convenient against those who challenge its authority