Flag Wars Finger Pointing

| September 13, 2023

Senate Republicans now blame Democrats for military leadership gaps

By Leo Shane III

In a surprise turnabout, Senate Republicans now are accusing Democratic leaders of slowing senior military promotions by refusing to schedule individual votes for the highest Defense Department leadership posts in order to work around the months-long hold by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., on hundreds of nominees.

“I don’t think it’d be too much to ask for the Senate to spend a little bit of time confirming general officers to positions like the Chief of Staff for the Air Force or Commandant of the Marine Corps or Chief of Naval Operations,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday.

“Maybe my Democratic colleagues should go talk to (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer, because they’re always encouraging us to go talk to Sen. Tuberville about this.”

The comments came during a confirmation hearing for Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, tapped by President Joe Biden earlier this summer to serve as the top uniformed officer for the service. His nomination is expected to be sent to the Senate floor for consideration in the next few weeks.

But it’s likely to stall there because of parliamentary moves by Alabama Republican Tuberville, who has blocked quick consideration of more than 300 senior military moves since late February over his objections to the military’s abortion access policies. That includes three members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who departed from their posts earlier this summer.

By the end of September, that list will also include the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Gen. Mark Milley, who is required to retire from the post in the next few weeks. Democratic lawmakers – and Pentagon officials – say that Tuberville’s actions are undermining readiness and politicizing the military.

“These men and women and their units and their families are having their readiness and their lives negatively affected by (Tuberville’s) unprecedented actions,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said at the Air and Space Forces Association conference in Maryland on Tuesday.

Military Times

Surprising to Military Times perhaps. The individual Senate vote has been discussed for months now. Doesn’t matter, this bastion of unbiased reporting quickly shifts back to starving 0-8s and the terrible burden they are forced to bear due to Tuberville’s intransigence. The actual reasons for the Senator to dig in his heels is indeed mentioned. Briefly at the end of the article.

The claims the process of individual confirmation hearings is too lengthy and impractical falls flat in the face of how long it’s already taken, so something else is at play. Is there concern how some of the nominees would fare under Senate questioning?

Something like this.

Category: Big Pentagon, Op-Ed, Schadenfreude

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Prior Service

The WaPo was consulted and confirmed that “democracy dies in darkness”…. So they’re gonna keep this one dark.

5JC

Don’t worry, their position is chief toady of the FJB administration isn’t in danger. They will continue to print whatever they tell them is true and cite “secret” sources in the FBI.

5JC

Ah, I see the Whitehouse has literally issued the media their marching orders. Those bitches better fall in line and start working the shaft and tickling the balls if they know what is good for them.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/white-house-called-out-letter-media-urging-scrutiny-biden-impeachment-inquiry-not-okay

USMC Steve

Since we are still not a democracy, but a constitutional republic, and the wapo still cannot grasp that, I really don’t care what they think about anything, but then again, I didn’t before either.

They are propagandizing morons.

Graybeard

Sauce for the goose…
The (D)emon-rats don’t like it when the other guys start playing by the new rules.

KoB

Spot on GB…’specially when its rules that they helped make up. Coach caught hell by winning using the rules of the game on the field and in life overall. It’s deja vu all over again. My take on all of this? Tommy got too many strikes against him, Bless his heart. He’s a White Southern Male, believes in the antique idea that the states still have some rights, and horror of horrors (gasps, clutches pearls) supported The Bad Orange Man. Not to mention he is also NOT a member of the sewer dwelling cesspool snakes “elite” that have long been sucking up at the Sugar Teat of Sodom on the Potomac and has issues with the taxpayer having to pay to murder babies. Simple solution to all of this. Don’t.force.the.payment.of.murdering.babies.onto. We, The People.

Hang tuff, Tubby and give ’em hell. There’s a lot of folks out here that are just like you. And guess what…we are fed up with the status quo that has come about despite the warnings of Bobbie Lee and Ike.

Prepare

5JC

He also has the advantage of doing what his constituency wants and will easily be reelected
Do I smell a Trumped-up indictment in his future? God knows they are working it as hard as Clarence Thomas.

5JC

The estimate was around 700 hours to confirm every officer on the list. I have my doubts the congressmen work 700 hours in a year on the floor. But yeah, if they really thought it was that important they could get it done.

USMC Steve

Three days a week on average. That is it. The rest of the week is for them to campaign and kiss ass and such.

Roh-Dog

Remember ‘our’ senate took a couple weeks off to have a sham of an unconstitutional exercise behind a fence and thousands of very well taken care of troops just after The Worst Terror Attack Since 9/11™, allowing Joey Bag o’ Donuts to skate on the addition $600 stimulus he’d promised during the Winter of Severe Illness and Death (Beta Version)®?

Save me from your newly found sense of right, wrong, and concern twixt those convenient absolutes you lisp over forkéd tongues.

Mitch is hot trash.jpg
Sapper3307

Fact check,, true

376044419_694266222733723_9177657361031280646_n.jpg
fm2176

Individual confirmation hearings for our most senior uniformed leaders? That’s a lot of asking for a Senate that would rather discuss transgender rights and figure out how to get rid of those pesky assault rifles.

But yeah, those O-8s simply can’t do the job without the rank. I earned my stripes in units that didn’t promote E-4s to Corporal. Hence, I went from Specialist to Sergeant. My NCOs used to say that if you needed Corporal stripes to be an effective leader, you didn’t need to be a leader. At those lofty heights an O-8 with 30+ years of service is making only about $550/month less than an O-9 or O-10. $550 is a lot of money for those of us making an hourly wage, if I miss a day of work, it’s roughly what I’ll bring home the next week.

But at this level, you have to factor in TDY and that nice per diem they’ll get for all the official travel they have to do. All of the other perks that come with the jobs, like taxpayer-funded dinners for foreign military leaders at Quarters 8 on Fort Myer, are just icing on the cake.

5JC

It is with teary eyes that today I found out that Romney will be retiring from the Senate. The brief mourning is now over.

I will give him props for being smart enough to realize that he was too old.

Roh-Dog

He’s tired of getting in and out of the human suit.

He’ll retire to some place with warm, flat rocks and plenty of crickets where he can shed his lizard skin in peace.

I wonder if he’s taking the ‘binders full of women’ home with him?

Xao Bribe’m knows what I’m talking about:

A Proud Infidel®™

“Retiring” SHIT, my bet is he’s taken a job offer from some K Street Lobbying Firm!

SFC D

He’ll probably run for Governor of Utah

Odie

My first thought was he knows the ship is sinking, and getting out of dodge before it takes him down too. Nobody leaves DC voluntarily at a young(ish) age without reason.

A couple examples of those past their born on date would be Barbara boxer and Nancy Pelosi.

Roh-Dog

1. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, 90 (retiring)
2. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, 89
3. Representative Grace F. Napolitano, Democrat of California, 86 (retiring)
4. Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, 86
5. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Democrat of the District of Columbia, 86
6. Representative Harold Rogers, Republican of Kentucky, 85
7. Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, 85
8. Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, 84
9. Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, 83
10. Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, 83
11. Representative Danny K. Davis, Democrat of Illinois, 82
12. Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, 82
13. Representative John Carter, Republican of Texas, 81
14. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, 81
15. Representative Frederica S. Wilson, Democrat of Florida, 80
16. Representative Anna G. Eshoo, Democrat of California, 80
17. Representative Kay Granger, Republican of Texas, 80
18. Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, 80
19. Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho, 80
20. Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina, 80

[Who I believe is fit for retirement, forced or voluntary, bolded]

Admittedly some here I’m not too spun up on. Grassley is still sharp and Bernie might be an idiot and asshole but his butter is still firmly on the toast.

Def FJB also.

KoB

IDGAF what they have behind their name they have ALL been there WAAAYY yonder too long and are the epitome of the Sewer Kritters that dwell in the Cess Pool in Sodom on The Potomac, sucking up to the Taxpayer Sugar Teat like the blood sucking, leaching, poly ticks that they ALL are. None of them have done nothing more than enrich themselves, create poly tick family dynasties and they ALL need to go. You know of any other job you get that you can be worth 10+ times your yearly salary in just a few years AND have a lifetime pension? How about a job where you can vote yourself a raise and an increase in benefits? PHUQUE THEEM! If a Commercial Aircraft Driver is considered to be too old to pilot an Air Ship at age 65 (68 in some places), then I consider that to be too old to help pilot the Ship of State. Age brings experience? Yeah maybe…but the only experience these parasites have is how to enrich themselves, consolidate their power, and fleece the Taxpayer. Again…PHUQUE THEEM!

Speaking of which…anybody know a pissed off JAL Wide Body Driver?

No one is coming to save us…but us!

Prepare

Odie

Thanks for the research. I wasn’t signaling one party over the other, but those were 2 I could think of off the top of my head.

Mitch McConnell should have been a no brainer.

SFC D

I agree completely. I’m not sure he’s what Utah wanted, he’s what they got due to limited choices. He’s essentially ineffective and sees the writing on the wall. CNN awaits.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

I doubt that his concern is “too old”.
Most likely he realizes that his DildoCrat Lite GOPe RINO ass would be handed to him in a general election.

USMC Steve

Big yay. Let us hope the Mormons pick someone next go around that is not a fucking idiot.

Sapper3307

SECDEF gets destroyed.
hGAq9ARiHGY

Odie

As somebody in the comments noted, it’s almost as if the military is being dismantled from the inside.

CDR D

It is. Read this book.

“Irresistible Revolution, Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military” by Matthew Lohmeier.

fm2176

I listened to this in the shower this morning. 😬

Green Thumb

Tubby had an undefeated season in 2005!

Green Thumb

If they (promotable Officers) cannot rep 225, then hit the showers and pack up.

Might balance the federal budget.

Odie

This should get interesting soon I would think.

https://townhall.com//tipsheet/juliorosas/2023
/09/12/even-new-mexicos-attorney-general-tells-michelle-lujan-grisham-to-pound-sand-n2628317/