A day after fixating on Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) over a gaffe about military recruitment and white nationalism, Thursday’s CBS Mornings returned with more Tuberville bashing. This time, CBS did the Biden White House’s bidding by blasting him for holding up military appointments and promotions due to a new policy to pay for the travel costs of soldiers who want to kill their unborn children.
Naturally, the angle was that it’s Tuberville and not the Biden administration who’s politicizing the military.
Co-host Tony Dokoupil began by noting “promotions into the top ranks of the U.S. military have been blocked for months now by” Tuberville, “who objects to a Pentagon policy maintaining abortion access for service members.”
Tossing to a taped report from longtime Pentagon correspondent David Martin, Dokoupil pointed to a statement from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who said disagreeing with the military helping to indirectly fund abortions is a “clear risk to military readiness.”
Martin piled on from the get-go thanks to a clip from Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) saying soldiers are being “punished” for Tuberville’s pro-life views. The piece then cut to Martin asking Tuberville, “[w]hat would it take for you to lift your hold on all these nominations.”
Tuberville stated it plainly: “All they need to do is change it back to the way it was.”
“Tuberville is demanding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rescind this memo authorizing paid leave and transportation costs for service members to travel to states where abortion is legal,” Martin explained, adding the total of blocked promotions are global in scope and are north of 250.
Martin then asked an absurd but unsurprising question, framing Tuberville as the one upsetting the apple cart:
MARTIN: Aren’t you dragging the military into politics?
TUBERVILLE: I want to keep politics out of the military. It is ruining our military.
Yes, implementing a brand new policy to have the military indirectly cover abortions (via travel expenses) whether taxpayers support it or not is what’s partisan.
Martin continued on, citing another 650 officers as “held back from promotion” by year’s end as well as disapproving comments from President Biden’s nominee to become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown: “It has an impact not just for the senior officer but, you know, all their staff and all those below them. [SCREEN WIPE] And we will lose talent because of those — those challenges.”
Martin ended by returning to the white nationalism topic with Tuberville stating that, once and for all, he’s “totally against white nationalism,” “[i]t’s racist,” and such ilk aren’t “should not be in our military.”
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To see the relevant transcript from July 13, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
July 13, 2023
7:11 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Military Promotions Blocked]
TONY DOKOUPIL: We’re going to go now to Washington where promotions into the top ranks of the U.S. military have been blocked for months now by one Republican senator in particular. That’s Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville, who objects to a Pentagon policy maintaining abortion access for service members. The secretary of defense, in response, says that the senator’s move creates a, “clear risk to military readiness.” David Martin has more.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Senator Blocking Military Promotions; Sen. Tuberville Blocking Nominations Due to Military’s Abortion Rule]
SENATOR TIM KAINE (D-VA): They volunteered to wear the uniform of this country, they volunteered to risk their lives for this country. Why do they deserve to be punished?
DAVID MARTIN: Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia became the latest Democrat to castigate Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville for the hold he has placed on senior military promotions. [TO TUBERVILLE] What would it take for you to lift your hold on all these nominations?
SENATOR TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): All they need to do is change it back to the way it was.
MARTIN: Tuberville is demanding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rescind this memo authorizing paid leave and transportation costs for service members to travel to states where abortion is legal. So far, Tuberville has blocked more than 250 promotions, some of them to major commands around the world, as well as heads of the armed services. [TO TUBERVILLE] Aren’t you dragging the military into politics?
TUBERVILLE: I want to keep politics out of the military. It is ruining our military.
MARTIN: General C.Q. Brown, President Biden’s nominee to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs, warned of the consequences this hold could have.
AIR FORCE GENERAL C.Q. BROWN: It has an impact not just for the senior officer but, you know, all their staff and all those below them. [SCREEN WIPE] And we will lose talent because of those — those challenges.
MARTIN: But Tuberville says he won’t back down. By the end of the year, 650 officers could be held back from promotion. And the senator has also come under fire for recent comments labeling white nationalists simply Americans, remarks he now disavows.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: White Nationalism Controversy; Sen. Tommy Tuberville Walks Back Comments on White Nationalists]
TUBERVILLE: I’m totally against white nationalism. I’m totally against it. It’s racist, okay? We don’t need that in the military.
MARTIN [TO TUBERVILLE] So white nationalists are unfit for service?
TUBERVILLE: They should not be in our military.
MARTIN: For CBS Mornings, I’m David Martin at the Pentagon.
(....)
8:01 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Senior Military Promotions Blocked]
KAINE: They volunteered to risk their lives for there country. Why do they deserve to be punished?
GAYLE KING: Senior military promotions are being blocked by Senator Tommy Tuberville over his objections to the Pentagon’s abortion policy.
MARTIN [TO TUBERVILLE] Aren’t you dragging the military into politics?
TUBERVILLE: I want to keep politics out of the military.
