“No Man’s life liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session”.

- attributed to NY State Judge Gideon Tucker



Friday, December 10, 2010

What's Going On With Tom Coburn?

I happened to see Dick Morris' appearance on Sean Hannity's Fox News Channel program Monday night. Morris noted that Tom Coburn, the previously-staunch conservative Republican Senator from Oklahoma, has suddenly changed his stripes.

Morris was referring to Coburn's vote for the Bowles-Simpson's Commissions recommendations, including $1T of new taxes.

What has gotten into Coburn? Morris went on a rant, urging voters to call Coburn and a fellow formerly-conservative Senator whose name I can't recall. All week. Then Morris lamented that both had just been re-elected, meaning they have six years of insularity in which to potentially drift leftward.

Let's hope Coburn just had a brief lapse of sense. I understand that he thinks the whole package offered by the Commission opens spending cut doors on entitlements which were previously locked shut. But I don't think his voting for such enormous tax hikes is justified to get the entitlement changes.

He could have voted against the plan as a bad package, but supported the spending cuts as worthy of inclusion in future legislation.

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