Free Republic

Alternate headline: “RINO surprised to discover he’s a RINO.” No, no, kidding. It’s a testament to how much goodwill Coburn has earned with grassroots righties that he remains a minor player in the RINO/true conservative squabble over defunding despite having been one of the first big-name Republicans to publicly criticize Cruz’s tactics. Or maybe I’m wrong and he’s simply being ignored because a more attractive target for right-wing wrath has inserted himself into this. Coburn gets a pass vis-a-vis McCain, I think, not just because of differences in their record but because Coburn takes no obvious personal pleasure in rebuking...

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Thursday the expectation Republicans in Congress have raised about defunding Obamacare is “not intellectually honest.” -snip- Coburn actualy gave Obama credit for reducing some government waste. “I’ve got to give the president credit. His budget this year at least addressed a few of those issues that [the Governmental Accountability Office] has raised. Congress hasn’t addressed any of them,” he said.

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn criticized Texas’ Sen. Ted Cruz for misleading the American people over Obamacare. “To create the impression that we can actually defund Obamacare, when the only thing we control, and barely, is the House of Representatives, is not intellectually honest,” Coburn said on Thursday’s Morning Joe.