Sen. Dan Sullivan turns to littering to attack headlines he finds offensive
Sen. Dan Sullivan, posing in front of the Washington VFW, complains about news coverage of the defense bill and litters the ground for effect.
The Ted Cruz wannabe posted himself outside the VFW in Washington, D.C. where he attacked three of the usual suspects—PBS, The New York Times and the Washington Post—for reporting on how House Republicans have inserted culture war issues into the $886 billion military defense bill.
Sen. Dan Sullivan read the headlines from three news stories and tossed paper copies over his right shoulder.
His instructor in Sincerity 101 must have told him that littering is a good way to show disgust. He needs to work on his delivery.
The claim from the junior senator was that the stories were incorrect. He was unable to cite any errors.
In the 1970s, Sen. Ted Stevens liked to say that he was the workhorse in the Senate, while Sen. Mike Gravel was the showhorse.
In the Alaska delegation today, Sen. Lisa Murkowski is the workhorse, while Sullivan is the showhorse, increasingly focused on promoting and defending the Republican Party and trying to reach an audience beyond Alaska.
The media is the safest of diatribe targets for Sullivan, especially when feeding the preconceived notions of his fans.
House Republicans did exactly what the offending news articles said: Among other things, they inserted anti-abortion and anti-gender—transition language, a provision to eliminate diversity training, and bans on implementing climate change orders by President Biden and critical race theory.
It appears Sullivan did not read beyond the three headlines that he castigated because the even-handed assessments they offered do not confirm his persistent fantasy that the Biden administration is out to wreck the U.S. military.
One of the headlines he read was a PBS interview with New York Times Congressional correspondent Karoun Demirjian, who also wrote the second item. The third was by Dan Balz of the Washington Post.
House Republicans add culture war issues to traditionally bipartisan defense bill
Hard Right Presses Culture War Fights on Defense Bill, Imperiling Passage
House Republicans wage ‘woke’ culture wars with the military
As Balz wrote, there is “no realistic chance that the Democratic-controlled Senate will go along with the House version approved Friday, which includes limits on abortion, transgender transition treatment, diversity training and other matters. The Senate is almost certain to return to the House a defense bill stripped of those controversial Republican amendments.”
“The bill would then face an uncertain future as some House Republicans who pushed through the amendments have vowed to hold the line, though some of them made similar promises during the recent conflict over raising the government’s borrowing power yet still couldn’t prevent its passage in the end.”
Balz wrote that the amendments “highlight the degree to which cultural and social flash points have become the bread-and-butter issues for a significant part of the Republican base.”
He’s right. Sullivan is wrong.
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