Analysis: Sen. Tommy Tuberville, meet the Constitution. Constitution, Sen. Tuberville.
“We probably could have had a swearing-in and inauguration later after we got this virus behind us a little bit,” Tuberville suggested in an interview with a local TV station. “Again, we’re talking about Washington, DC.”
Er, so, this is awkward, senator, but the whole Inauguration Day thing isn’t, um, movable?
This isn’t the first time that Tuberville, who beat Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in November, has shown a, um, lack of familiarity with the Constitution.
In an interview with the Alabama Daily News conducted shortly after his victory, Tuberville expounded on how he thinks the government operates.
“Our government wasn’t set up for one group to have all three branches of government — wasn’t set up that way,” Tuberville said, adding: “You know, the House, the Senate, and the executive.”
So, a few things. First, the three branches of government are the executive, the legislative and the judicial. Second, the judicial branch isn’t a partisan body where Republicans and Democrats fight for control.
(In that same interview, Tuberville said his father fought in World War II “to free Europe of socialism,” which [checks history book] was not what World War II was a fight against.)
Now, there’s no requirement that you have to know the ins and outs (or even the basics) of the Constitution in order to hold an office. But one might also reasonably conclude that if you did happen to be elected to the United States Senate, you would want to buff up any weak(er) spots in your knowledge about the country’s fundamental governing document.
Uh, yeah.
