Pentagon Spox Explains Why Tommy Tuberville Is Screwing the U.S. Military Like He’s Speaking to a Five Year Old
The military confirmation hold-up by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is still ongoing, and yesterday during a press briefing, Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder offered up an explanation that even a child could understand.
It’s not explicitly stated that Gen. Ryder was addressing Tuberville in his stern, simple explanation of why holding up hundreds of military leadership confirmations was a danger to our national security at home and abroad. But he did use a football analogy. And yes, we are heading into football season, but it’s worth pointing out that Tuberville is a retired college football coach. So maybe Gen. Ryder is using this football analogy and keeping Tuberville in mind, using terms that he, perhaps, will understand:
REPORTER: It seems like obviously we’re still at such a standstill. What is the… what’s the solution here? What’s the next step?
RYDER: Yeah, well, really, I mean, I would refer you to the Senate, to the Congress to answer that question. You know, I’ve been asked before to try to put this into context in terms of “why does this matter?” And, you know, with football season starting, I would say imagine going into the football season with a bunch of acting coaches for each of our teams with a regulation that limits any of those acting coaches from presuming that he or she was actually going to officially lead the team. And those acting coaches who come up through the organization are now responsible for not only being the offensive and defensive coordinators, but also acting as the head coach. And so in the short term, they’re likely going to make things happen because that’s what good leaders do. But what happens when performance on the field becomes impacted over time? How are you going to deal with the uncertainty of, within the coaching staff and the locker room in terms of who’s in charge, how are we going to affect performance, and then who are the fans going to hold accountable.
And so the longer that these blanket holds are in place, and the more that future leaders are kept in limbo, the more uncertainty and friction it will create within the ranks, not to mention the impact on the families of those who serve. And ultimately, as I mentioned, this is an issue for Congress to address. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on how they should go about it. But I can tell you that our military leaders simply want to do the job that our nation expects of them: to lead our military to protect and defend our nation, and if necessary, overwhelmingly defeat our enemies in battle. So, again, we’d ask that the Senate work to lift these holds and enable the confirmation of our general and flag officers.
Watch the video above via YouTube — you can watch the full press conference here.
