How many times will Tommy Tuberville pull the football away from Senate Republicans?

As the Senate rolls very, very slowly toward a bipartisan move to override Sen. Tommy Tuberville's blanket hold on hundreds of top-level military promotions, it seems Tuberville is finally beginning to realize that he's pushed his fellow senators too far on this one.

That seems the best interpretation of Tuberville's pleas to his fellow Republican senators on Tuesday:

“Listen, everyone. I got y’all into this mess. I’m gonna get you out,” Tuberville reportedly said during a closed door lunch.

Not on the lunch menu: any explanation from Sen. Football Guy on just how he might do that. Nor does Tuberville appear to be wavering from his stance that he'll drop the holds only when the U.S. military wipes out policies covering travel expenses for service members who need abortion care and need to travel to a non-theocratic state to get it—or when the Senate passes legislation to strip those policies itself.

Instead, it appears Tuberville is stalling for time, trying to convince his fellow Republicans to hold off on a vote to override his holds for as long as he can manage it. He's also claiming the Armed Service Committee colleagues are "getting close" to a solution. He hasn't offered up any evidence for that claim either, only the broad assertion that he's "trying to get some kind of resolution before we get home for Christmas."

But no, his colleagues don't appear to see whatever "resolution" Tuberville claims might be forthcoming. They keep proposing compromises, Tuberville keeps insisting that the holds will continue until the military's abortion policies are rescinded, and top military officials keep warning that our armed forces cannot remain effective with hundreds of command positions left in limbo.