Note: This is an updated blog on 12-27-23 (first published 9-14-23).
I have closely followed republican Senator Mitt Romney since 2015.
ROMNEY HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN HONORABLE POLITICIAN--GIVING US IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN A STRAIGHT-FORWARD MANNER.
When Trump launched his 2016 campaign to be the republican nominee for the Presidency, Romney told us of Trump's seriously bad moral character. Romney said Trump was NOT A SUITABLE CANDIDATE.
Tuberville's bid for his first congressional run was supported by election-denier and liar Donald Trump.
Tuberville has a lot to learn about serving all of his state of Alabama and also serving the whole of the United States.
Tuberville is a baby politician and lacking in common sense--he felt he could serve only his own personal interests (rabidly anti-abortion) holding the whole Military hostage to punish Senators and Citizens just because they didn't agree with Tuberville. This went on for months and months.
Thank goodness there were enough experienced Senators who could pressure Tuberville so he could learn an important lesson on how to function as a senator.
MITT ROMNEY HAS COMMON SENSE AND INTEGRITY
What's that familiar word "integrity" actually mean? It means the following:
- a person has good moral character when he or she
- is honest and doesn't lie;
- believes in ethical principles (doing the the right things);
- follows the rules of whatever game they're in (whether football, cards, or politics); and,
- has a value system appropriate to their life situation(s).
- The important values vary across different situations. In sports most everything is public, transparent and well defined; each game comes to an end and competitors accept the outcome. But politics is hundreds of times more complex, obscure, messy, nasty and inescapably important.
- Persons with integrity try really hard to consistently uphold the situation's values and respect their fellow men and women.
Even as Romney in 2016 on TV called out Trump for being a "fraud," he cited publicly available facts which together made the use of the word fraud appropriate. In contrast to this, there are those in Congress who slander other politicians, even going to the extreme of calling them "pedophiles."
Romney showed his honorable integrity and respect for the Constitution by voting for Trump's impeachment; and in Trump's trial in the Senate, Romney voted to find Trump guilty for his part in the insurrection.
Romney just recently announced he'll not run for re-election. Since I first got acquainted with Romney, he has never disappointed me--even if we didn't agree on everything.
I CONTINUE TO RESPECT MIKE PENCE FOR HIS INTEGRITY
I'm a moderate Republican and he is very much more a far right conservative. I greatly respect Pence for several things I want to spread the word on.
- I sort of think he wanted to be vice president and that he knew Trump's liabilities but as a loyal American politician he bravely offered himself as VP.
- He comes across as "straight-laced," rarely smiles, and for his four years as VP appeared to be both loyal and long suffering.
- My impression from reading multiple accounts of Trump's presidency, is that Pence supported what he could of Trump's policies. And he probably had a moderating effect upon Trump. Pence on January 6th, though fearing for his safety, did certify the electoral votes; Congress reconvened later in the evening and Biden became the next President.
- Pence probably worked to bring out the best from those working in the White House. Both AG Bill Barr and National Security Advisor John Bolton have said Trump was damaging to our American democracy. Bob Woodward's writing includes nonstop examples of the White House staff minimizing the damage from Trump's ignorance of government process and his impulsivity.
When Pence announced his run for the Republican nomination for President, he began to publicly separate himself from Trump's chronic liabilities. He said he was "incredibly proud" of what he and Trump had accomplished. But he added, referring to Trump:
"I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again."
January 6, 2021 was the insurrection at the Capitol. That's 2 years and 9 months ago.
But only in the past six months are we learning the full extent of the organizing which led to the riot and to the Trump-directed criminal interference with the elections in at least half a dozen states.
BUT MIKE PENCE IS SUPPORTING COACH TUBERVILLE'S GRIDLOCK
There are many odd, counter-intuitive procedures in Congress. Sometimes these procedures cause significant problems such what Senator Tuberville has seen fit to do.
In an unprecedented manner he has held up about 300 military promotions until such time as the U.S. Military changes its policy of giving military personnel access to abortions and other reproductive medical care.
It’s a classic Washington standoff with rippling effects across the country, placing the lives of service members effectively on hold as they await what has traditionally been routine Senate approval for their promotions.
It is obvious from the various online news and pictures that Tuberville is pretty cocky about what he has done. And he has no intentions of changing his mind.
Tuberville, is not a veteran. He has been a life long football coach. His candidacy was endorsed by Trump and Tuberville is serving his first term in the Senate.
Today, USA Today reported that Mike Pence at a campaign stop commented:
"Touting his 'traditional moral values,' he defended Sen. Tommy Tuberville's military holds and abortion fight with the Pentagon, and he again opposed transgender health care for children."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/14/mike-pence-town-hall-tuberville/70844117007/
What I see happening in Mike Pence and Senator Tuberville is that they believe abortion should be entirely or almost entirely criminalized. This is reasonable for them to believe; and there are millions of Americans who feel the same way.
However, Pence and Tuberville support manipulating Congressional procedures and perhaps laws to ban abortion access for everyone.
For several years, most if not all opinion surveys show Americans are in favor of freedom of choice in the matter of abortion.
What this amounts to is Pence and Tuberville are heading in the direction of forcing (inflicting, perhaps) their particular antiabortion value system upon the entire nation. First inflict it on the military, because Tuberville can; then gear up for the next battle to restrict freedom of choice for abortion.
I will end today's blog by giving my opinion on whether our democracy can be saved. I believe we're going to be OK because:
- At the Federal and State levels the criminal justice investigations are methodically producing the hard evidence, the facts, and the witnesses to testify and hold wrong doers accountable for their actions.
- Hundreds of January 6th rioters have been sentenced--including long prison sentences for members of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
- Misbehaving lawyers are in hearings for losing their licenses for violating their ethics standards. Many have been indicted.
- Trump has been indicted four times for a total of 91 criminal charges. He cannot receive a presidential pardon for a state level crime.
- More and more republican Congressmen are publicly speaking the obvious--that Trump lost. Duh!
- In the last several months, I've seen no public media even implying Federal election fraud. I believe we've reached a tipping point after which more and more citizens will open their hears and minds to election realities.
- Several news organizations and talk show hosts have settled lawsuits for irresponsibly reporting conspiracy theories and false information that interfered with the elections. Literally hundreds of bogus lawsuits by election deniers have been thrown out of court.
WORKS CITED
Woodward, Bob. FEAR: Trump in the White House. Simon & Schuster, 2018
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