GOP Senator Pat Roberts Will Ensure Eric Fanning Is Never Confirmed To Be Obama’s Secretary Of The Army
Eric Fanning (photo) is by every account one of the most qualified candidates to become Secretary of the Army ever presented. Fox News slammed Mike Huckabee‘s attacks on Fanning in an interview, instead choosing to praise Fanning’s experience. During Fanning’s Senate committee hearing Thursday, war hawk Lindsey Graham said he would vote for Fanning (video below), and by all accounts Fanning would be confirmed if the full Senate were given the opportunity to vote on his nomination.
But despite rave reviews and despite the fact that America is a nation at war on several fronts, one Republican Senator has been holding up Fanning’s nomination and confirmation hearing, and he now says he will through the end of this year – possibly killing any chance Fanning will ever become Secretary of the Army. President Barack Obama nominated Fanning in September.
Despite his extremely conservative views and bonafides as a “far-right Republican,” despite his extremely anti-gay votes, Roberts says his holding up Fanning’s nomination is “nothing personal.”
Roberts insists he is prohibiting the Army from having a highly-qualified leader because he wants to ensure President Barack Obama never closes Guantanamo. Roberts has used that stance as an election and fundraising issue, and even in a campaign ad suggested he was the only reason prisoners from the base in Cuba were not flooding his state of Kansas, home to a federal prison.
“The hold will stay until we can get past this year,†Sen. Roberts told the Topeka Capital-Journal.
“Past this year” means until President Obama is out of office.
Lest anyone accuse Roberts of blocking Fanning as an attack on LGBT people, the Kansas Senator has that covered.
“I want to stress that it’s nothing personal,†Roberts says. “It’s just the way it is.â€
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Image: Screenshot via YouTube
Hat tip: The Hill
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