"We're Electing Idiots," Part Troix
Will I ever stop being a sarcastic asshole? Find out on next week's episode of "I Think The F**k Not!"
(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
Few people become assholes reluctantly.
Geoffrey Nunberg
I’ve written about former University of Auburn football coach and current US Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on a few occasions previously…and none of them have been complimentary. The junior Senator from the Yellowhammer State is a living, breathing moral and intellectual black hole. He may have been a helluva football coach, but his sense of decency and morality as a human being leave much to be desired.
For someone who coached as many Black players for as long as he did, Sen. Tuberville is astonishingly and disgustingly racist. Worse, he’s made no particular effort to hide his racism or his commitment to White supremacism and Christian Nationalism.
He’s also not above taking credit for the benefits of legislation he voted against.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) tweeted praise for federal legislation that will send money for broadband expansion in rural Alabama when astute Twitter users, including MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan, pointed out, “You voted against it.”
The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program passed in 2021 as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. It provides $40 billion to increase internet access across the country. Former President Donald Trump urged a “no” vote on the bill, which Tuberville heeded. However, 19 Republicans, including Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), voted in favor. The measure passed the Senate 69-30.
“Broadband is vital for the success of our rural communities and for our entire economy. Great to see Alabama receive crucial funds to boost ongoing broadband efforts,” Tuberville tweeted this week about the $1.4 billion pledge to his state.
Tuberville is by no means the first or only Republican to take credit for the benefits produced by legislation they voted against. It’s cynical as Hell, but it’s also something Republicans are renowned for, especially with Joe Biden in the White House. They’ll vote against legislation so they can go back to their financial benefactors and constituents and proclaim their commitment to financial conservatism.
Once they’ve prostrated themselves on the altar of fiscal conservatism, they return to their states and take credit for bringing home the bacon. Few of their constituents pay attention to their voting record in the Senate, so they likely don’t know that their Senator is trumpeting something they voted against.
Tuberville’s hypocrisy is a typically Republican tactic, but where the former football coach differs is that he’s not bright enough to cover his tracks. And so he ends up being called out for his duplicity by the Twitterati and those on the other side of the ideological fence.
And Business Insider provided some context on Sen. Tuberville’s dishonesty:
Left-wing pundit Mehdi Hassan wasted no time piling on the Senator: “You voted against it.”
Another pundit, Brian Tyler Cohen, was also merciless: “My dude, you literally voted against it.”
As did former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger: “Ah the old voted no but take credit.”
Ignorant. Corrupt. Racist. Shameless.
Yeah, that’s a pretty good start to summarizing Sen. Tuberville. You could throw inept, incompetent, and homophobic in there and not be far wrong. The man’s entirely out of his element, but in Alabama, Tommy Tuberville had two things going for him- “football coach” and “Republican.”
There are words no one will ever use to describe Alabama’s junior Senator- like “statesman,” “towering,” “larger than life,” and “widely admired.” He’s keeping a seat warm for six years because he has an “R” behind his name- to the GOP leadership, that’s the only thing that matters.
“The announcement was made by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, who was the only Alabama representative to vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed by President Biden. None of the six Alabama Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for the bill,” Al.com reported.
Former Sen. Doug Jones, whom Tuberville defeated in 2020, tweeted Monday, “I bet they will damn sure take credit when it’s installed,” then added Tuesday, “Well I guess I was wrong in yesterday’s tweet – in this article Alabama Republicans didn’t wait until installation of broadband to take credit for federal dollars they had nothing to do with and in fact opposed.”
Republicans have no problem taking credit for an idea that’s a fait accompli. They opposed, voted against it, and it passed…so they might as well get on board, right?
You can do that when you have no moral center and even fewer ideas. If Republicans opposed upgrading broadband access across Alabama, what were their alternatives? How did they propose bringing the Information Age to rural Alabama communities already having trouble keeping up in an increasingly interconnected global marketplace?
The problem, of course, is that they had no alternative proposal. They have no ideas, no plans, and nothing to offer save for their opposition to spending money on bringing rural communities into the 21st century.
So they’re reduced to taking credit for ideas they opposed. It’s a pretty sad and pathetic space to occupy, no? And yet the GOP continues to be the party of no ideas, vision, or plans. They continue to be the party of “NO!” The only thing they have to offer is virulent opposition to anything and everything President Biden proposes.
The GOP can’t have a reasonable hope of regaining what they believe is their rightful place as the majority party if they have no ideas to offer America. If they have no vision for the future and no plan for moving America forward, voters will have no reason to put their faith in the GOP.
The Democratic Party isn’t perfect, far from it- but at least they have ideas. At least there’s a vision for the future. It may not be impeccable or withstand the test of time, but it’s a starting point. It’s something concrete. And it’s something that Democratic candidates can talk to the American people about.
All Republican candidates have is the opposition to everything Democrats stand for. That’s not a vision to run a campaign on; that’s fear-mongering.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville is one of the worst examples of the moral and intellectual vacancy running through today’s GOP, but he’s hardly alone. There are few in the party with ideas, and the ones who have them lack the clout to get them adopted into the party platform. That’s because there IS no party platform. That requires ideas and proposals, of which the GOP currently has none to offer America.
So what we’re left with is one of America’s two major political parties living in a moral and intellectual vacuum.
This is the GOP in 2023. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence for America’s future.
