There have been whispers for months that Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s blockade on military confirmations would eventually prove unsustainable to his own party. At some point, GOP senators, concerned about the strength of the U.S. military and its leadership, would say, “Enough.”
The question was what it would take to tip the scales. The answer, evidently, was an apparent heart attack.
Earlier this week, Gen. Eric Smith, the Marine Corps’ commandant, was hospitalized on the heels of complaints that he was struggling with an unsustainable workload. The general was shouldering the responsibilities of two related jobs, leading to 18-hour days, as a direct consequence of Tuberville’s radical tactics.
A Politico report added that while Pentagon officials have stopped short of blaming Tuberville for Smith’s medical emergency, they conceded that “the stress of doing two extremely demanding jobs at once for months certainly did not help his health.”
It was against this backdrop that there was an unexpected showdown on the Senate floor Wednesday night. The Associated Press reported:
Republican senators angrily challenged Sen. Tommy Tuberville on his blockade of almost 400 military officers Wednesday evening, taking over the Senate floor for more than four hours to call for individual confirmation votes after a monthslong stalemate.
The conservative Washington Times described it as a GOP “revolt” against the Alabama senator’s blockade, which it clearly was. For months, Republicans would occasionally grumble about Tuberville’s unprecedented efforts, but they refused to take any meaningful steps, despite appeals from Senate Democratic leaders.
On Wednesday night, that changed. Over and over again, Republican senators would bring up a qualified military leader, nominated for a key position, and seek unanimous consent to confirm the individual. In every instance, GOP members would sing the nominee’s praises, highlighting his or her heroic service, and explaining why the person should receive Senate approval. And in every instance, Tuberville objected.
Over the course of five hours, this happened 61 times.
Note, as the Alabaman’s blockade dragged on, Tuberville insisted that his party was comfortable with his tactics. Punchbowl News reported in July, “Tuberville insists he’s not under any pressure from GOP colleagues to cave,” and when NBC News asked the senator soon after whether he’s faced any pressure from fellow Republicans to drop his hold on military promotions, he replied, “No. Zero.”
That’s clearly changed in dramatic ways. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who helped take the lead on last night’s effort, suggested that Tuberville is not “a man of his word.” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told the Alabaman on the floor that he was “doing great damage to our military.”
And Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, described Tuberville’s position as “ridiculous” and “dumb.” Sullivan: My colleague is saying there is no problem, no readiness problems. No offense but that's ridiculous and he knows it. We all know it. pic.twitter.com/eukJzLgj9M As for possible next steps, there are more questions than answers. Democrats continue to explore possible work-arounds, but a solution is not yet in place. Given the GOP’s newfound public outrage, however, there are renewed hopes for a bipartisan fix. Tuberville, meanwhile, appeared on Fox News this week and said, “We are in a tough time right now because our military is struggling to actually put a group together.” What the Republican failed to note was that it’s his fault the military is struggling to actually put a group together.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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