Tuberville is one of the most incompetent people to ever be sent to Washington. That is saying a lot.
Disclosure. I have a cousin who lives in Dothan, and friends in Birmingham and Mobile. My wife has relatives in the Mobile area. What follows is a primer on AL culture, a background on Tuberville, and a description of forces that put him in the Senate.
Our country is deeply polarized. In Congressional testimony on the record, beginning back in the 1950s and continuing until the present, it has been disclosed as a consensus national intelligence finding that a primary goal of the former Soviet Union, Russia, and China has been to corrupt our system of public education and exert leftist influence over the education process for young people in the US. In this, they have been successful through Confucius Centers, financial donations to US universities, infiltration of US teaching faculties, influence over teachers unions, and direct financial influence over leftist federal politicians. Much of this money can be documented online through searches of donors to universities and political entities. Polls now show many US voters believe conservative thinkers like Tuberville are "incompetent".
To me, anyone who has been employed as a coach by Auburn must have accepted corruption that is endemic there. To what extent that influenced Tuberville, I cannot say. But Auburn is a corrupt institution, notwithstanding its top notch veterinary, pharmacy, and engineering departments. It is corrupt because the university has been under inordinate influence of several powerful families in the banking and construction businesses who have used their wealth to cheat. The corruption goes all the way to the top. These families run Auburn's Board. No president can be appointed at Auburn without approval of these families.
If you disagree with Tuberville's policy positions, then you will believe he is incompetent. If you agree with him, then he is a refreshing conservative voice. As the great Bill O'Reilly says, people believe what they want to believe.
I have been watching Tuberville's political career with interest. AL is experiencing a culture clash between urban voters in Birmingham, Montgomery, Huntsville, and Mobile versus the traditional rural and small southern town narrative. The state is extracating itself from decades of social polarization and financial struggles. Birmingham and Mobile are now modern US cities. Huntsville has been transformed by NASA.
Even Crimson Tide fans overwhelming support Tuberville. If you understand AL politics, that is remarkable. Traditionally, the AL Republican Party has been corrupt but the AL Democrat Party has been much worse. It is fair to say the AL Democrat Party is constituted by remnants of the KKK. Even today, Mardi Gras in southern AL is run by "secret societies" such as "mystics of time" and "knights of momus". These secret societies have evolved into clubs of men who do charitable work in the community and hold gala balls at Mardi Gras time. Inner workings of secret societies remain secret, and members take vows of secrecy. Breaking this vow remains a big deal. In reality, secret societies are remnants of the KKK and, later, so-called "blue dog Democrats" left over from the KKK.
History teaches that you must be an alcoholic to be elected to the Senate out of AL. In a 2018 special election, Democrat Doug Jones was elected to the Senate because his Republican opponent Roy Moore was involved in scandals. Moore was endorsed by Donald Trump, a kiss of death for Republican Senatorial candidates. Jones became the first Democrat Senator from AL since another drunk, Howell Heflin, in 1978. Jones campaigned as as "moderate" but became an errand boy for Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin in the Senate. Meanwhile, Richard Shelby was one of the Senate's least effective and least liked members. If you meet Mr. Shelby, you will understand why. Shelby, another drunk, was a former Democrat who switched parties with George Wallace when Republican voters began to outnumber Democrats in AL. Shelby's poll numbers were dropping and Jones quickly became branded as a liar. AL voters finally became fed up. At their next opportunity, voters elected Republicans Tuberville and Katie Britt to the Senate. That is how Tuberville's political career began.
Tuberville is an old fashioned conservative. His "hold" (a Senate privilege exercised by members of both parties) on Biden military appointees suggests he has a political backbone. Tuberville is protesting the use of taxpayer money to fund abortions in the military. Like him or hate him, political courage is rare these days.
Tuberville is a Republican Senator who is not beholden to any Presidential candidate including Trump. As an independent voter, I find that interesting. I am not suggesting that I agree or disagree with his politics. I take that on an issue by issue basis. But we need more Senators who are not owned by the Chinese Communist Party and care about the value of American lives.
Whether Tuberville's ideas about NIL will work, IDK. But one way or another, I hope something useful can get done. As Mark Stoops has said, current NIL rules are unsustainable.
