By Tom Squitieri
Red Snow News
WASHINGTON — Let’s call the score 439 to 0, with still some of the fourth quarter to play.
On Tuesday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican Senator from Alabama, released his months-long hold on 439 of 451 military promotions, following growing pressure and more vocal opposition from his own teammates.
“We didn’t get the win that we wanted,” Tuberville told reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday, offering a variation of a well-used line he made in posting historic losses while coaching at Texas Tech and the University of Cincinnati, among other locations.
Tuberville said that he now supports an idea presented by Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) – two teammates that lambasted him verbally on the Senate floor for his blocks. Their plan would release all of his holds on military officers at the 3-star level and below.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was prepared to force a vote to change Senate rules on approving military promotions, and some Republicans were open to backing it.
Hours after Tuberville lifted his holds the Senate approved those freed nominations en masse.
The Senate only has one more full week of session scheduled and confirming those remaining 12 officers one at a time would take several days. Among those still blocked by Tuberville are the vice chiefs of the various services, commander of the U.S. Pacific fleet, commander of Pacific Air forces, the commander of Air Combat Command, and the commanders of U.S. Northern Command, Cyber Command and Space Command.
Tubverville’s white flag on his extended holds gives the freshman senator another historic loss in his storied career.
There was the 66 points Oklahoma State hung on Texas Tech when Tuberville was the coach there, the most ever allowed by the Red Raiders. The 60-point margin of defeat was also a program worst.
“You know, one or 50, it doesn’t make any difference,” Tuberville said of the worst loss in that school’s history.
Later, he adjusted his remarks after guiding the University of Cincinnati football team to its then worst pounding in that school history, a 65 to 27 pasting at South Florida, which included a 51-3 halftime deficit.
“That was a disaster,” Tuberville said then. “I never that saw that coming.”
Previously, the Senate had confirmed by individual votes Gen. Charles Q. Brown as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Randy George to be Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric M. Smith to be the commandant of the Marine Corps, Adm. Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, Gen. David Allvin to be chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, and Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney to serve as assistant commandant for the U.S. Marine Corps.
So, actually, the score is 445 to 0 — with the game seemingly nearing the end.
