Posted on 01/18/2014 7:18:47 AM PST by cotton1706
Fellow Conservatives:
We have some very sad news to report.
Dr. Tom Coburn (R-OK)U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has announced that he will resign from the Senate this year. Dr. Coburn is battling a serious recurrence of cancer.
This is a big loss for Oklahoma and the country.
Dr. Coburn has been a tireless fighter against wasteful Washington spending. No senator has done more to research and expose our government's gross abuse of American taxpayers. He is a true citizen legislator and we need more like him in Washington.
Please take a moment to read Jim DeMint's statement about the courage, tenacity, and dedication of Tom Coburn.
SPECIAL ELECTION
Governor Mary Falin (R-OK) has announced that a special election will occur this year to fill the vacant seat. The Republican primary election will occur on June 24, 2014 and the general election will occur on November 4, 2014.
We must do everything we can to elect a true conservative in Oklahoma who will fight for our principles.
It's not clear yet which candidates will run for the seat, but we hope U.S. Representative Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) will consider it.
Jim Bridenstine (R-OK)SCF endorsed Bridenstine last year as a candidate for the U.S. House because of his outstanding record. We wanted to protect him from the Republican establishment, which was upset with him for voting against John Boehner (R-OH) for Speaker, and to elevate his profile so he could run for the Senate someday.
How great would it be if he ran now?
We will keep you updated as we learn more about this critical U.S. Senate race. Oklahoma is a conservative stronghold and we must help elect someone who has Dr. Coburn's courage and who will fight for our principles.
(Excerpt) Read more at senateconservatives.com ...
“...Jim Bridenstine (R-OK)SCF endorsed Bridenstine last year as a candidate for the U.S. House because of his outstanding record. We wanted to protect him from the Republican establishment, which was upset with him for voting against John Boehner (R-OH) for Speaker, and to elevate his profile so he could run for the Senate someday....”
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Wow, talk about walking the walk. He voted against John Boehner for Speaker—works for me. Of course the GOPe Empire will strike back.
The day he announces his candidacy, I will donate to his campaign. Oklahoma deserves a Senator with the guts and integrity that Jim Bridenstine has demonstrated.
Coburn for the most part was a solid conservative. He had a few moments recently that made me wonder if the puzzle palace was finally getting to him, but he has given himself term limits. Good for him.
He was on Mark Levin's Show the other night and he noted, he is solidly in the Article 5, States Convention Camp.
it makes me wonder, while he has health issues, is he going on to another mission i.e. to champion or put wind in the sails of the Convention of States movement?
Perhaps he will follow the Jim DeMint Model and do something more effect than that den of iniquity that has become the Senate...
agreed. I think he just got tired of the fight..
His prostrate cancer has returned.
Prostrate = prostate.
Bridenstine is a rare name, and it may be rejected by the uninformed of OK.
Sorry, can't agree with that. The Tom Coburn of 2014 is NOT the Tom Coburn of 1995. He used to be the 90s version of Ted Cruz, now his record is closer to John McCain. He may still talk conservatively, but he's gone off the reservation on numerous important causes and is WAY too friendly with Dems.
Two big ironies here: 1) He's pretty much become the very thing he rallied against for years (a cozy Washington insider who sees the enemy as his pals), and 2) He's pretty much the very thing that cotton1706 and other Liz Cheney supporters FALSELY accused Mike Enzi of being (a GOP Senator who has gotten too comfortable in Washington and now loves to be "bipartisan" reach across the aisle, so he needs to be replaced with someone new who is from outside the beltway)
In any case, I wish Senator Coburn the best in his recovery, and look forward to having someone new in that seat.
“2) He’s pretty much the very thing that cotton1706 and other Liz Cheney supporters FALSELY accused Mike Enzi of being (a GOP Senator who has gotten too comfortable in Washington and now loves to be “bipartisan” reach across the aisle, so he needs to be replaced with someone new who is from outside the beltway)”
Still going on about Mike Enzi, eh. Still singing his praises. I deal in facts. Here’s the record.
Enzi (WY) - 08/19/14 - 80% (Average) - 74% (Heritage) - 71% (CFG) - 92% (ACU) - 82% (FreedomWorks)
Coburn (OK) - - 83% (Average) - 80% (Heritage) - 87% (CFG) - 92% (ACU) - 71% (FreedomWorks)
Without the ACU:
Enzi (WY) - 08/19/14 - 76% (Average) - 74% (Heritage) - 71% (CFG) - 82% (FreedomWorks)
Coburn (OK) - - 79% (Average) - 80% (Heritage) - 87% (CFG) - 71% (FreedomWorks)
Hmmmm. Your boy and Coburn aren’t too far apart in their voting records and their averages are they?? Coburn’s gone in only ten years. Enzi’s been there eighteen, and now that he has no opponent, conservative or otherwise, he’s free to vote how HE likes, without any threat of comeuppance from the people. And once safely reelected, will continue his slide downward, providing a vote when Chuck Schumer needs one, like Hoeven, Cochran, Corker, etc.
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Still cherry picking his "record" I see. Yep, out of dozens of conservative organizations, you keep pointing to same 5 or 6 you found where he has the weakest ratings (and even then, he's still mostly in the 80%s) Yawn. Reminds me of when the lefties cherry picked a group of Democrats who "served" in the military and cherry picked a group of Republicans who "did not serve" to "prove" the Democrats "supported the troops" more. Unfortunately for you, nobody falls for this type of selective propaganda.
>> Hmmmm. Your boy and Coburn aren’t too far apart in their voting records and their averages are they?? <<
Ah, but it's a "big loss for Oklahoma and America" if Coburn doesn't remain as Senator, but Enzi "needs to go" because he's RINO scum. Rightttttttttttt. Of course, now that Dick's little girl Liz is out, nobody is publishing articles anymore about what a dirty rotten filthy RINO scum Enzi is. Interesting coincidence, right?
>> he’s free to vote how HE likes, without any threat of comeuppance from the people. <<
Yep, and he's still been voting solidly conservative ever since Liz LEFT the race. (just announced that he was voting AGAINST against the $1.1 trillion all-inclusive spending bill that the Senate passed on Jan. 17) Since he has no primary opponent now (except the neo-NAZI guy, who I doubt you will be endorsing since it was all about getting Liz elected and not about opposing Enzi), all that stuff that Enzi was "only voting conservative" because Liz Cheney was "forcing him to the right" is now being debunked, and will continue to be.
“Still cherry picking his “record” I see. Yep, out of dozens of conservative organizations, you keep pointing to same 5 or 6 you found where he has the weakest ratings (and even then, he’s still mostly in the 80%s) Yawn.”
We’ve had this argument before. The four I use are the most prominent ones. I’ve asked people to recommend others and nobody’s replied. Name them and I’ll add them to my average, the point of which is to not allow politicians to hide behind ones like the ACU, who rate the artificially high based on the criteria they use, or mislead the people with things like “lifetime ratings” which allows politicians to use their votes from 20 years ago to give them cover for their votes this or last year.
“Ah, but it’s a “big loss for Oklahoma and America” if Coburn doesn’t remain as Senator, but Enzi “needs to go” because he’s RINO scum. “
Enzi was on my list of senators to be removed long before Cheney announced. Why?? Because he was up for reelection in 2014, the next cycle, and his conservative average was in the low 80’s or high 70’s and trending downward. And he was always helping Ted Kennedy with something (I live in MA and constantly saw these stories) and did very little to stop Obamacare, put absolutely no pressure on Olympia Snowe to vote “no” in committee, and should the republicans regain the majority, he would be chairman of the HELP committee, and would not do a very good job, because he hasn’t done a very good job as ranking member. As to Coburn, since he wasn’t up for reelection until 2016, I didn’t bother focusing on him since there was nothing the people could do until then and I could focus on those up for reelection in 2014. And frankly, I think Jim Inhofe, though a solid conservative, should have retired. These people stay too long. But back to Coburn, he always stated that he would serve for two terms, so any attention paid to him would have been worthless anyway. If he said he would run again, I would have advocated his removal because his record, too, has been trending downward and he seems to have caught the Washington fever.
“Yep, and he’s still been voting solidly conservative ever since Liz LEFT the race.”
I can only judge his future voting record on his past voting record, which has been trending downward since he got there. I’ve no doubt that he’ll continue to get the whispers in his ear “you don’t want to be on the side of the Tea Party! They tried to remove you from office, remember? Vote with us. We’re short a vote, Mike, can you give us one. Just help us get this through cloture, you can vote against the bill of course after that.”
I don’t understand this obsession with Liz Cheney, even after she’s left the race, and this virulent protection of Mike Enzi. There have been several suggestions on FR that Cheney was a shill candidate to keep a real conservative from challenging Enzi, and whether or not that’s true, he seems to be protected from any criticism, his record it seems, can never be questioned. I don’t know when the filing deadline is but I still hope a conservative rises to challenge him, at least to give the people a choice on their ballot.
I had talked previously about winning elections in places like New York and New Jersey where the only chance we have at this point (because of the extreme liberals in the state) is to have a moderate republican who will support us 60 - 80 percent of the time vs. a whiny socialist who will only support us in the naming of post offices.
This is a state where we need to continue to make a difference. Oklahoma is one of the more conservative states in the union. There is no doubt that a republican will be elected there. The question is, what kind of republican? We need another Tom Coburn, Tim Scott or Ted Cruz etc... elected there. Not some wishy washy McCain or Lindsey Graham. This is the type of state where our battles will be won. Oklahoma, elect a solid conservative!!!
Dr. Coburn, good luck and God speed in your battle with cancer. I wish you all the best.
I came darn close to nailing it on the 18th...
On Mark Levin last night, Mark was discussing the Senator's retirement.
He noted the Senator said it is time to go, he will golf a bit, but more importantly he will spend time going around the country championing the Article 5 movement.
This is huge IMHO, a sitting Senator quits to champion something that will eventually change perhaps permanently the filthy sausage factory he will leave. It says eons about how broke it is...
Bttt....
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