Free Republic

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn blasted the Education Department Wednesday for what he called “very significant inappropriate behavior in tipping hedge funds on short selling private education” and called on a key Senate panel to investigate the matter. Coburn was referring to documents released last week by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group that has called for federal authorities to investigate market manipulation by famous Wall Street short-seller Steven Eisman. Coburn said the charges even could result in jail time for Education Department officials. “Utilization of facts in the Department of Education in advantaging investors...

What we have been covering all week on the radio show has finally burst into the view of the MSM. Even CNN has now figured out that the debate over spending within the House GOP caucus is hugely important. The vast class of House freshmen know that if they budget cuts delivered in the final CR are not more than $100 billion they will be either primaried in less than 20 months or flogged with "broken promise" charges in their campaign for re-election in districts newly redrawn because of the census. My new Townhall.com column deals with the specifics, but...

A strange commentary on our society is that in the days leading up to the President’s 2011 State of the Union address, the biggest story may not have been the speech itself but the seating of individual members of Congress. A mature democracy that spends this much time analyzing such a basic principle has regressed. The question for conservatives is how to direct our national conversation where it belongs — to the very real problems facing the nation, such as the fact that we’re going bankrupt. Of course, we are having this discussion not because of the Tucson shootings, but...

Sen. Tom Coburn caught Washington’s attention Tuesday by sporting a new beard for the lame-duck session, just in time for what are sure to be intense debates over extending tax cuts, repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and ratifying START. Is the Oklahoma Republican sending a political message with his new look? Coburn’s spokesman, John Hart, said he was aware his boss’ facial addition caused a stir, particularly on Twitter, but insisted he’s not trying to attract attention. “He just decided to stop shaving,” said Hart. “It has no premeditated point to it.”The senator’s mostly white facial hair sticks out because,...

There is a conceit, especially popular among the press corps, that the salvation of America depends exclusively on self-described moderates and centrists. If there’s a path out of gridlock and insolvency, this theory goes, it can’t be charted by consistent conservatives or liberals. Instead, the nation needs the leadership of ideologically flexible, politically ambidextrous mavericks: Democrats like Evan Bayh, perhaps, and Republicans like Susan Collins, with President Michael Bloomberg waiting to sign whatever compromises they devise. This vision doesn’t leave much room for a figure like Tom Coburn, Oklahoma’s junior Republican senator. Coburn came to Washington as a congressman in...

Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and Mike Crapo, who sit on President Obama's deficit-reduction commission, will vote in favor of the commission's plan, according to sources. They will join Sens. Kent Conrad (D) and Judd Gregg (R), who said yesterday they'd also support the package. Fourteen of the commission's 18 members need to vote yes for the plan to move to Congress. The vote is expected to take place tomorrow. Both senators are voting members of the panel. "I'm scared to death at the potential that could unwind this country," said Coburn, one of the Senate's most fiscal conservative members. Crapo...

As Senate Republicans prepare to vote on an earmark moratorium, I would encourage my colleagues to consider four myths and four realities of the debate. Myths of the earmark debate: 1. Eliminating earmarks does not actually save any money This argument has serious logical inconsistencies. The fact is earmarks do spend real money. If they didn’t spend money, why defend them? Stopping an activity that spends money does result in less spending. It’s that simple. For instance, Congress spent $16.1 billion on pork in Fiscal Year 2010. If Congress does not do earmarks in 2011, we could save $16.1 billion....

Wayne you sorry bastard, I will never ever forgive you and Chris Cox for trying to save the Democrat's asses in this election. Actually I figured you out when you endorsed Brad Carson over Tom Coburn in Oklahoma's Senate election a few years ago. At the same time you endorsed Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey. I can't believe you now have the gall to try to sell me something. Just bugger off. Sincerely, OKSooner, "Northeastern Oklahoma"

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is pouring cold water on the idea of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich running for president. “He's the last person I'd vote for for president of the United States,” Coburn said during a town hall event in Wagoner, Okla., over the weekend, as was reported by the Tulsa World. In explaining why he wouldn't support Gingrich, Coburn specifically targeted the ex-speaker’s three marriages as proof that Gingrich “doesn't know anything about commitment to marriage.” “His life indicates he does not have a commitment to the character traits necessary to be a great president,” said Coburn, who...

Conservatives, above all else, do not want to elect as president in 2012 some politician who tells them what they want to hear to win office and then morphs into a big-government moderate after he takes the oath of office. The list of Republicans who could fill that requirement seems not too long: Sarah Palin, Mitch Daniels, Michelle Bachmann, Bobby Jindal, and John Thune...did I leave anyone out?  There are Republican candidates like Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney who tilt conservative but whose presidency could easily move toward "moderation." Newt Gingrich pops up as a savvy policy wonk with...

The largest driver of the long-term federal budget gap is entitlement spending that is slated to grow faster than the economy. But a second key driver -- growth in security spending -- often gets short shrift. That national security is important does not mean that the Pentagon should be exempt from fiscal oversight or off the table when we talk about balancing the federal budget. This is especially true because higher defense spending does not always make us safer. From the end of the Vietnam War through the end of the Cold War, national defense spending typically ran between 5%...

Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, co-chair of the Republican Leadership Council, said Monday that GOP candidates in the current election cycle must reject the "the party of no" profile and the idea that "compromise is a dirty word" -- and endorsed former Rep. Tom Campbell in California's hotly contested GOP U.S. Senate race. "We feel he is the candidate which, besides being able to win in the fall...also brings those kinds of characteristics to play to the office that will make him a very effective Senator, and one that can start to solve problems,'' Whitman said in a...

Here is video of GOP Sen. Tom Coburn getting some love from MSNBC for his recent defense of Nancy Pelosi as a "good person," and for his attack on Fox News. On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," they led into an interview with Coburn by playing audio of his remarks in which he defended Pelosi and warned the audience not to be biased by "Fox News." Joe Scarborough then praised Coburn, agreeing with him that Pelosi is a "good woman," and was followed by Donny Deutsch who told Coburn he "just gave Republicans the playbook" of how to go after Democrats. First,...

Bill O'Reilly talks to Republican Sen. Tom Coburn about his criticism of Fox News during a town hall meeting. At the town hall Coburn said, "Don't catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody's no good." He made the statement while he was defending Nancy Pelosi as "a good person." O'Reilly told Coburn that he, "Used Fox News as a whipping boy when we didn't qualify there."

It’s a sad commentary on our politics that he can’t show civility to a leader of a movement that routinely calls people like you and me teabagging racists. “There’s nothing nice about Nancy,” Inhofe said during an interview on KFAQ radio in Oklahoma this morning. “She disagrees with everything we believe.”… “She is nice – how many of you all have met her? She’s a nice person,” Coburn said. “Just because somebody disagrees with you don’t mean they’re not a good person.” Inhofe had a slightly different take. “She is a powerful person,” he said. “People wonder how she can...

Perhaps it's the political zeitgeist these days, but statements made by Tom Coburn (R-OK) at a recent townhall are puzzling. Coburn, speaking before constituents, one of whom expressed concern over jail should she reject ObamaCare, turned into a mouthpiece of fawning progressivism. Coburn is conservative. According to his web-site: Dr. Coburn's priorities in the Senate include reducing wasteful spending, protecting your liberty, balancing the budget, improving health care access and affordability, protecting the sanctity of all human life - including the unborn - and representing traditional Oklahoma values. Seems clear. Not so clear, however, are his defense of Pelosi and...

Since the health care reform push hit its final stretch, numerous sweeteners for lawmakers' districts and states have been found inside the package. Earmark requests are made outside of the health care bill, making them a bit more difficult to link to any vote-trading. But it is precisely that kind of tricky-to-catch deal-making that Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said he and other GOP senators would be monitoring for months to come. "If you think you can cut a deal now and it not come out until after the election, I want to tell you that isn't going to happen," Coburn...

Patty Murray Votes To Allow Convicted Sex Offenders To Receive Taxpayer-Funded Viagra   Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 09:03 PM Highlighting her left-wing agenda and the extreme lengths to which Democrats are going to preserve their massive government-run health care bill, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) voted today to block an amendment that would have prohibited health care plans administered by the federal government from covering erectile dysfunction drugs for individuals convicted of child molestation, rape, or other forms of sexual assault.The amendment, which was offered by U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), was defeated by Murray and her Democrat Senate...

Philadelphia Daily News Feb 5, 2010 Can't Get a Gun Here? No problem: Florida Will Issue Permit, and Local Police Must Honor It. Phila. Authorities Are Irate Imagine having your driver's license revoked in Pennsylvania but then being able to get one in Florida - through the mail - that must then be honored here. Now imagine it happens with guns. Because it does. Pennsylvania residents who are denied a license to carry a concealed weapon, or have theirs revoked, have found a loophole that allows them to get a license from another state that must be honored here. ...read...

Murtha-tied Company Wins Sole-Source Vaccine Contract Michael Goldfarb January 4, 2010 Several months ago we warned that Tara O'Toole who recently became Under Secretary for the Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security would reward her friends resulting in millions of dollars in gifts to John Murtha cronies who supported her nomination. And it now appears the Murtha/O'Toole favor factory has begun production. In February 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a request for proposal (RFP) for a second-generation Anthrax vaccine. This RFP was issued to be a re-procurement for a contract that...