Has Tom Coburn (R-OK) Lost His Mind?

I guess in single-party states like Cuba, Syria, Laos, Turkmenistan, Liberia, Vietnam and Oklahoma, there's no sense among the political class that there's any real accountability from voters. The Democrats actually did have someone run against Tom Coburn last month, though you probably never heard of him. Jim Rogers, who also ran for president (of the United States) in 2008, managed to snag 265,519 votes (26%) against Coburn, just about half the number of votes that Andrew Rice got in 2008 when he ran for the state's other Senate seat (against Jim Inhofe). Rogers lost every single county and was even trounced in Oklahoma City with less than a third of the vote.

When the Oklahoma City firefighters' association urged Coburn to cease his "tactics of delay" and stop blocking the bill to compensate the 9-11 first responders, Coburn thumbed his nose at... well, the world. He has nothing to worry about. Unless someone has been holding back some photos of him screwing underage boys with Mark Foley, Mark Kirk, Lindsey Graham and Miss McConnell.

We lived through the horror in Oklahoma City in April 1995, and many of our members responded to Ground Zero during 9/11. Fire fighters are always there for our country, and we need Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe to be there for our FDNY brothers and sisters! The Oklahoma Fire Fighters urge our two Senators to stand tall with America's first responders. Instead of employing procedural tactics of delay, vote to give the hero's of 9/11 the protection and benefits they have earned.

Coburn instead attacked Harry Reid-- who is pushing the bill-- for not pushing it strongly enough.

Coburn's spokesman John Hart told Huffington Post that Reid has not asked for unanimous consent to move forward with the bill. "[Y]ou can't hold a bill that hasn't been brought up. Reid hasn't even tried to hotline the bill. This is the same game he's been playing for years, going back to the 'Coburn Omnibus' and before," said Hart. "Why did Senator Reid fail to bring this bill to the floor this entire Congress? Supporters say the bill has been around for years, yet the Majority Leader has prioritized hundreds of other initiatives ahead of this one. For instance, the Senate invested more energy into passing an omnibus bill with 6,700 earmarks than this bill. We're not responsible for the Majority Leader's failure to manage the Senate schedule."

A Reid aide noted that the majority leader hasn't asked for unanimous consent because he doesn't have an agreement yet with Republicans that would allow it. Coburn, late in the day, posted a list of concerns with the 9/11 bill, though Dem aides believe they can be overcome.

Expect lots more of this as the GOP attempts to create a state of anarchy in American politics in the run-up to the 2012 elections. Yesterday the two hysterical wingnuts from South Carolina tried changing the argument to how sacrilegious it is to cut the Senate's Christmas break and what a betrayal it's been that Republicans have voted across party lines and helped the Democrats pass legislation for the good of the country.

But even right-wing propagandist Shep Smith (Fox News) tried to shame Coburn about blocking the 9-11 first-responders legislation. The one-party state of Oklahoma would be impervious to this kind of thing from a legitimate news source, but Oklahoma has been almost totally zombified by Fox, and this is something that will make an impact. The zombies could even turn on him.