Oops! They truthed themselves

(The full quote is here.)

Occasionally, the truth wafts in Washington like the smell from Jerry Nadler’s paper undergarment. Let me give some recent examples.

First up is Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who has ignored the federal prohibition on using taxpayer money on abortion. Instead, he changed Pentagon policy and offers women soldiers and officers extra leave time and transportation to get an abortion. The policy also applies to military wives and daughters.

Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville has halted all Senate approvals of military promotions until either Austin ends his lawbreaking new policy or Congress lifts the ban on abortion funding.

Austin refuses to budge even as he claims the halt in promotions hinder him and his military from doing their job. He won’t take responsibility, instead shifting it to Tuberville for blocking all promotions of commissioned officers.

Austin, a retired 4-star general said on Monday, “Because of this blanket hold, starting today, for the first time in the history of the Department of Defense, three of our military services are operating without Senate-confirmed leaders.

“This is unprecedented, it is unnecessary, and it is unsafe. This sweeping hold is undermining America’s military readiness. It’s hindering our ability to retain our very best officers. And it’s upending the lives of far too many American military families.”

So instead of being a man and a leader who protects the people who serve under him, this dime-store general says he is risking lives of soldiers and sailors to pressure a duly elected senator to turn a blind eye to Austin’s own lawbreaking policy.

NBC ended its report, “Tuberville has said that he wants a vote on a bill introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., that would codify the policy into law, agreeing to end his blockade if it passes. In exchange, he wants the Defense Department to agree to rescind the policy if the measure fails.”

Austin’s refusal to rescind his policy puts our nation at risk. Those are his words, not mine. I do not believe for a minute that not adding a star to some general’s title puts the nation at risk, but in saying it does, Austin admitted he puts the nation’s defense second after for the sake of abortion politics.

Next up is The Intercept’s ver-r-r-r-ry interesting report on Fox News executives funding Democrat Senator Joe Manchin’s doomed-to-fail re-election campaign. Republican Governor Jim Justice is prepped to clobber Manchin at the polls in West Virginia’s Senate race next year.

The Intercept tried to make it appear as if Manchin is the sellout. Liberals feign anger at Manchin who talks a good game against ruinous lefty policies, but always winds up backing them. If you vote for one Democrat, you vote for them all.

The Intercept said, “The senator received tens of thousands of dollars from Fox executives and lawyers from April to June, according to his campaign’s July filing with the Federal Election Commission. Prior to that, Manchin had not received a donation from a Fox employee since 2018, when James Murdoch, son of media mogul and Fox Corporation Chair Rupert Murdoch, donated to Manchin. Fox’s political action committee also chipped in to the senator’s campaign in the spring. The donations follow an influx of cash from fossil fuel behemoths and the centrist political organization No Labels.”

Manchin has done nothing for “fossil fuel behemoths.” Indeed, he was the winning vote for passage of the Green New Deal, which Democrats mislabeled as the Inflation Reduction Act.

But what The Intercept inadvertently admitted was the truth that Fox News is just another propaganda machine. Its gimmick to get viewers is to pretend it is conservative. The story pointed out that Fox gives Manchin plenty of airtime even though he is as interesting as a doorknob.

The story said the Fox donors “are Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox Television Stations, who donated $3,300 in May, alongside Stephen Brown, another Fox TV executive who gave the same amount. Michael Mulvihill, a Fox Sports president of insights and analytics, gave $1,500, while Fernando Szew, the CEO of Fox Entertainment Global, gave $1,000. Fox senior vice president for digital policy and strategy Adrian Farley donated $6,600, as did Jamie Gillespie, Fox Corporation’s executive vice president of government relations.”

That’s an odd strategy to get influence in DC by backing a surefire loser. I must be missing something.

Finally, The Hill reported, “GOP sees turnout disaster without Trump.”

That headline implies DC Republicans are worried. Are they? DC Republicans have thrown previous elections. They opposed him in 2016 (as evidenced by making Never Trumper Paul Ryan, now a Fox executive, their House Speaker) and in 2020 when they refused to challenge the obvious election fraud in state after state.

The story, however, previewed the convenient truth when Republicans once again take a dive in the election rather than fight Democrats. The story quoted Matt Dole, who it labeled as a Republican strategist. By today’s standards in media, James Carville is a Republican strategist because he is married to a woman who once worked on a Republican campaign.

Anyway, Dole said, “The conventional wisdom is there’s concern that if Trump’s not the nominee, his coalition will take their ball and go home.”

Just like Never Trumpers did in 2016 and 2020.

The truth is out there and occasionally you can read about it in the media.