I have to admit, I am a big fan of Senator Tom Coburn. Not only is he from my home state, but he is also honest and forthright when it comes to doing what he thinks is best for our country. This is not the first time I have featured one of his videos. Some have been interviews, as this one is, and others have been speeches he has made on the floor of the United States Senate. Most of them have had to do with fiscal matters and this latest, from FOX News Sunday, is no exception. Some people may think he is an alarmist about our debt and spending problems. Some of the comments on the article I have linked to on FOX News went so far as to accuse him of wanting to destroy the middle class. If those people who make such uninformed comments would actually watch the interview, they should be able to understand that Coburn is wanting to do no such thing. He is actually concerned about what will happen to the middle class, if measures are not taken to correct the problems we are facing. I was especially intrigued by his statement towards the end of the interview, when asked how he felt about Grover Norquist’s claim that he [Coburn] was snookered by the Democrats into supporting the plan put forth by the deficit commission. It is around the 10:20 mark of the interview and I think you may find his reply interesting and hopefully, a little eye-opening.
Wow! Thank God for his sincerity and integrity for tell us the blunt honest truth.
It isn’t a pleasant thought, but it is a thought that we need to have. Otherwise, our country is in for even harder times.
18% unemployment! Yikes!
The problem with the debt commission is that it didn’t address, even a tiny bit, ObamaCare. I respect Coburn. I also fear him at times. He’s a little like a loose cannon, but mostly I trumpet his every word.
I will say when he told the woman in an Oklahoma townhall that she didn’t know what she was talking about when she asked about the prison sentence that might be applied if a person did not buy ObamaCare, he told her there was no such thing in the bill. He should have told her the House had it in the bill and the Senate took it out. In the same Townhall he said “Nancy Pelosi is a Nice Woman,” and when the crowd groaned, he asked them “Do you know her? Have you met her? Dang cheeky in my opinion. Sigh.
I can’t tell you how mad I was. Here was his constitutent who knew what she was talking about, but perhaps didn’t realize the prison sentence was eliminated in the many thousands of pages of the bill. I had a long conversation with one of his aids and I sent him a letter which he later answered, but failed to mention my gripes:)
Still, I appreciate all he does, each time he does it. He is spot-on in his assessment of what is coming if we don’t do something fast. I like it that he rings the bell loudly, but I can’t help remember that he accepted the debt commission recommendations without touching ObamaCare. To show you how petty and biased I am, he, his wife and Barack and Michelle are personal friends – at least they were when Obama came to the Oval. How can he be personal friends with a man who supported and pushed every abortion bill available to him?
More sighs.
Yes, I know Coburn is friends with Obama, but I am not convinced that qualifies as a “cardinal sin”. It doesn’t mean he agrees with the President’s policies and there is plenty of proof that Coburn does anything but agree with the President on nearly every issue.
Concerning Coburn’s reaction to the crown at the townhall meeting, there was a lot going on at the time. Many, many things were being said about the health care legislation and a lot of them had no basis in fact. I have said time and time again that our opposition to the bill should be based on fact and not on rumor and innuendo. I have a feeling that’s the point Coburn was trying to get across. Maybe I am wrong. As for his response about Nancy Pelosi, I think he was trying to keep things civil. That’s just the type of person he is.
Let me say this about Coburn’s vote for the debt commission recommendations. If you will watch the speech he gave on the floor of the Senate shortly after that, you will find that he voted for them with one purpose in mind. He feels we need to start the debate about the spending problems and he thought doing so would help bring about the start of that debate. He plainly said that he had multiple problems with the recommendations that would have to be solved before he would vote to actually enact them. I think he has a point and there is a big difference between voting to bring them before Congress and voting to enact them into law.
About the Obama-Coburn friendship: remember I said I was biased and petty:-) The part about the prison sentence WAS in the House bill, and that is what the lady was talking about. I checked the text at the time, because I had also heard about it. It was there. Coburn treated her as thought she didn’t know what she was talking about.
I understand that he was doing what he thought best, and I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision to accept or reject what was a mostly brilliant plan, but I still think it is telling that the Commission recommended not a single change to ObamaCare. There should have been hours of talk about that on the floor of the Senate (if Reid had given them hours).
I am proud of Coburn and the work he has done for our State and the Nation. I am grateful for him.
One thing to keep in mind is that the commission’s report was not the work of the Senate or the House, therefore it wasn’t debated on the floor of either chamber. If the recommendations had received 14 votes, it would have then been sent to Congress to be debated. Coburn’s yes vote was an attempt to do just that.
Good point LD.
I think Tom Coburn understands that if there isn’t some kind of compromise nothing will get done at all. That worked with Obamacare, but doing nothing about the debt may bring about the dire scenarios discussed. I’m sure compromising on some core beliefs is one of those “pains” Dr. Coburn alluded to. Oh, boy is that going to hurt.
I would tend to agree, rjjrdq. Coburn has some very strong core beliefs and for him to be so worried that he is willing to make some compromises on those beliefs? That tells me there really is cause for concern.