Posted on 12/04/2011 8:43:32 AM PST by BarnacleCenturion
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Sunday that he cannot support GOP presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich because the former House speaker lacks leadership skills.
“I am not inclined to be a supporter of Newt Gingrich’s having served under him for four years and experienced his leadership. Because I found it lacking often times,” Coburn said on Fox News Sunday. The Oklahoma senator served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001.
“There’s all kind of leaders, leaders that instill confidence and leaders that are somewhat abrupt, leaders that have one standard for the people that they are leading and a different standard for themselves,” he said. “I will have difficulty supporting him for president of the United States.”
Coburn in March said that he was looking for a president that would unite the country and raised questions about Gingrich’s confrontational style.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
What is wrong with Newt is more than just momentary lapses of Judgement. It is an indication that he is not a "true believer" and that he has become too much the poll driven politician. I recall the media spanking him hard with "the Gingrich that stole Christmas" headline, and the "Whiny baby shut down the government because he didn't get his way on Air-Force one" headline among others.
Apart from his complete tone-deafness regarding enemy media, he has done too many things that no true believer would have even contemplated. The media will KILL Newt if he should get the nomination, and I have little doubt he will back-stab us should he win. (As did George H.W. and to a lesser extent George W. Bush)
And your point is what? Should he have spat in his face? Some people believe the "air of legitimacy" engenders a respect for the office. While *I* may not agree, most people do in fact believe it is proper to maintain the illusion of civility.
“A sterilization Coburn performed on a 20-year-old woman, Angela Plummer, in 1990 became what was called “the most incendiary issue” of his Senate campaign. Coburn performed the sterilization on the woman during an emergency surgery to treat a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, removing her intact fallopian tube as well as the one damaged by the surgery. The woman sued Coburn, alleging that he did not have consent to sterilize her, while Coburn claimed he had her oral consent. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed with no finding of liability on Coburn’s part.”
You remember, don’t you? While you under the anesthetic and I said you don’t want to ever have babies again, do you? And the anesthesiologist waggled her head back and forth.?
So Coburn Endorsed Keyes? What of it? Keyes is a lot better man than what we have now running the nation, and in many respects I regard him as a lot more reliable than is Newt Gingrich. At least I don’t have a dread that he will go against me when it comes to decision time.
” At least I don’t have a dread that he will go against me when it comes to decision time.”
We’ll never find out. He couldn’t get elected dog catcher.
The issue here isn’t Newt’s Conservatism, but rather his leadership capability.
When the GOP retook the House after the 1994 election, it was pretty clear that Newt was the idea/vision guy ... but it was really Armey who was running the place on a day-to-day basis.
Newt’s the guy you want in the basement coming up with policy papers, and I have concerns that his deliberative and professorial decision and policy-making approach won’t be a good match to the demands of the Presidency.
If it comes down to Newt vs. Romney it’ll be a mirror image of the Dems in 2008 where Obama was the ideological visionary and Hillary! was the pragmatic leader.
Understanding what is wrong and being able to do something about it besides hurling molotov cocktails is a far different kettle of fish.
Newt was leader. He knew better than to make a nuclear strike that would be ineffective. Coburn did not.
Conservatives, especially radical conservatives never learn the lesson.
Politics is the art of the possible
You are mischaracterizing Tom Coburn. You allege he voted against funding Iraq because he is against the troops. This is a nasty accusation and in my opinion an intentional distortion of Tom Coburn's record. I do not know why he voted against funding the war, but I am D@mned certain it had nothing to do with a refusal to support our troops.
Tom Coburn does things for reasons of principle, and if he voted against a defense appropriations bill, I am willing to accept his judgement as to the need to do so over yours. I have more confidence in Tom Coburn's ability to do the right thing than I do in anyone else sent to Washington. He has done so consistently, over and over again, and so in my mind he has a long enough record of doing the right thing so that I may regard any deviations by him as being for a good reason. (Though I might not know what it is until I dig into it deeper.)
1/100th of the Senate has no power without a minimum of 39 other Senators in support. (And that just STOPS bad legislation in the Senate. It cannot create any.) It takes 60 Senators to actually DO SOMETHING in the Senate.
Given how much the deck is stacked against him (even some of OUR Senators vote with the Democrats!) I do not fault him for being unable to advance legislation. No drug addict wants it's drug (federal dollars) taken away.
Listen Dude, Coburn is *MY* Senator, and I admire and respect him. I don't know where you get your impression of him, but you are barking up the wrong tree. I supported him in both elections when he ran for the Senate, and I support him still today. I find your characterization of him as a RINO offensive, and I would suggest that there are plenty of better targets in the Senate. (and house)As far as i'm concerned, Tom Coburn is one of the very few trustworthy men in government.
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He is a fiscal Hawk. I suggest he is attempting to force a confrontation with Federal Debt by shocking people with the notion of higher taxes. At this point, I would love to hear calls for Higher taxes on anybody and everybody just to get people to pay attention to the notion that the "FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SPENDS TOO MUCH MONEY!"
I would LOVE to see an elimination of with-holding Taxes as well. Make people WRITE A CHECK to the Federal government, and maybe they'll get a F***** clue!
As for him being a member of Team Romney, if this is true, I don't like it, but I am not going to malign and besmirch his competence and honesty as a result of it. I heard Ann Coulter come out in Favor of Romney on a Radio show Friday. Is she now an idiot or a RINO?
I accept that there are some conservatives who believe that Romney is a pragmatic choice, (though I don't agree with them. I am SICK of North Eastern Republicans representing us Nationally!) and I not going to fault them for believing that. I will however attempt to change their minds, but not by accusing them of being RINO's or some other sort of traitor.
Well as we know if the media proclaims it, we must obey. Bad Newt, good media.
Well as we know if the media proclaims it, we must obey. Bad Newt, good media.
Coburn promised when he was first elected to the Senate that he would only serve two terms. I plan to make him keep that promise should he decide to do otherwise. Agreed, Coburn was much better when he first got to Washington, but at this point I still regard him as the best Senator in the Senate.
Amen.
That is because Keyes was far more Conservative than Bush. Time showed he was indeed. Bush was at best a moderate but mostly a Johnson DEM. Had Keyes won we would likely not be in the fix we are now. Think about that. Who was the only Republican too stand up and challenge Obama for his senate seat? Alan Keyes. Too bad he was in a mainly DEM state. Keyes is also far more conservative & intelligent than Newt.
You remember, don’t you? While you under the anesthetic and I said you don’t want to ever have babies again, do you? And the anesthesiologist waggled her head back and forth.?
What a vile pile of muckrake! And to what end? Is not the notion that it was Emergency Surgery for a ectopic (pregnancy inside the fallopian tube, not the Uterus) pregnancy, and that a lawsuit was dismissed, sufficient information to convey some sort of comprehension on your part?
Tom Coburn is Pro-life. Beyond that he is a very skilled Medical Doctor and Surgeon. I do not believe that he would have done such an unethical thing as you are insinuating, and that his actions were both necessary and appropriate to the circumstances he found himself dealing with. I think it is disgusting that you would suggest such a thing.
What motivates you to make such ugly insinuations regarding that good man?
If you value pragmatism above principle, Keyes is not your man anyways. No doubt Romney would fit the "Win Elections" requirement better for you.
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