Keith Olbermann didn't parse any words during his Worst Persons segment on Countdown this Thursday and went after Sen. Tom Coburn for his eliminationist rhetoric where he said that “It’s just a good thing I can’t pack a gun on the Senate floor." And then as John already noted, proceeded to attack President Obama as an affirmative action recipient and claimed the country was better off before we had Medicare in place.
Keith called for Coburn to resign and I agree with him. Not that he's going to care what anyone thinks since he's not running for reelection anyway.
OLBERMANN: But when he moved from health care and casual racism to the debt ceiling deal, Sen. Coburn took a step down from the simply mean spirited, out of touch, whiny elitism which has marked his political career and moved towards ineligibility for the office which he holds.
He called his colleagues “cowards” and then added “It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor.”
Yes it is, but apparently that's insufficient protection for the rest of us. For a sitting U.S. Senator to say in public that he even daydreams or jokes about the prospect of shooting other Senators is not just to ignore the supposed lessons of the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and the other victims of Tuscon. It is not just to ignore the years before the Civil War when Congressman Preston Brooks of Georgia went up to Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in the Senate chamber and beat him into unconsciousness with a cane and kept him out of office for a year.
It is to pull at the threads of non-violent Democracy. It is unacceptable. It implies that other members of the U.S. Senate merit being shot, because they disagree with Sen. Coburn. And if that is indeed how he thinks, and he's not disavowed, nor apologized for, nor even addressed this remark, he is not just a personal danger to his colleagues, but more realistically he is the kind of dangerous inspiration to those of his supporters or constituents, or just anybody who hears his comments, who might be unstable enough to act on them.
As Sen. Coburn admits, it just a good thing he can't pack a gun on the Senate floor. But it would be a better thing still if he were not on the Senate floor.
If that's who you are Senator... resign.
I think Obama referred to Coburn as his "friend" at this event.
Ed-words
once you accept the invitation to grovel before the coe's and the rest of 'the family' you must kiss the rings of all the knights of the oblong table, including sir tom coburn.
More of an irregular trapezoid table, I think...
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Paul, don't I know you from the old days at Think Progress? It's good to see you.
Back on topic: Tom Coburn has proven time and time again that he is a complete idiot and unfit for office. He should resign. He can always go back to his C-Street Family, I'm sure they approved of his gun comment. He and John Ensign can commiserate with each other.
Those people are cowards. Coburn is the only brave person there because everybody knows that brave men shoot those with whom they disagree.
What kind of coward makes physical contact in a fight? It takes BALLS to attack the person who pissed you off from 20 feet away!
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Give the asshole a short-bladed weapon and the same for his opponent... Coburn would drop his and beg for mercy before a stroke could be made.
It's a little different when you have to be within arm's length from your opponent and look him in the eyes, Senator... would make a great boost to YouTube's fortunes, also, I would think.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
sad because violence doesn't happen in a void... People hear this kind of talk and think they are justified...
someone should pat down zach wamp next time he scuttles into the capital rotunda
This asshole needs to be arrested under the Homeland security act for threatening to kill US Senators.
---
what is worse, ignorance or indifference?
I don't know and I don't care!
Norquist , Koch brothers , Dick head Army , Scalia , Alito , half the US Supreme court ,almost the entire Republican party , a long long list . Treason and sabotage .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
A lot of work to do to remove those jerks....
“It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor.” senator hippie
why? why is it good that your RIGHT to pack heat any-goddamn-where you please is restricted? hello, NRA, what the what? are you just going to let this dove-tainted, hippie express such gratitude and do nothing?
I can't decide if you're being sarcastic or don't understand what Senator Moron (R - Exxon) was saying.
that was snark
not all martyrs see divinity
That was quality snark.
"Someday somebody related to some of these sufferers, these victims, these collaterally damaged souls, may try to kill you. And I have to tell you, I think you’ll have it coming." - Christopher Cooper
In the first place, Tom Coburn is a wholly owned subsidiary of the energy industry. He doesn't pee without the permission of Exxon or BP. In the second place he's an arrogant southern half of a northbound horse which explains why he's popular with the tiny-brained in his region.
We, as a nation, are being punished for something. Nothing else explains the attention being paid to the daily tantrums of Tea Baggers and the pols who are kissing their arse. I suspect our problem is pride exacerbated by an overload of testosterone which led to Iraq and Afghanistan. We had justification in the latter. It disappeared, along with BL at Tora Bora when Rummy decided to save money by outsourcing the hit. we should have left then because that inanity showed the world how serious we were about our stated mission.
for the war in Afghanistan?
Would that be the Trans-Afghan pipeline?
Richard Armitage is most likely the diplomat who threatened the Afghan government two months before 9/11 – “You will either accept our carpet of gold or we will carpet-bomb you.”
Or maybe you're referring to the extensive lithium deposits in Afhanistan.
Imagine if Reverend Wright or Bill Ayers had said something like this. Heck, what if Al Franken had said this?
No need to speculate, we'd still be hearing the braying howls of O'Really and Not Doocy. Surely there must be examples from the left that can be equivocated - cue the videotape.
a little malpractice somewhere in OKie. Since he is a registered physician. And he can bring a gun as often as his little sawbones heart desires to his office. It's a disgraceful thing he said.
suggests. And since the votes aren't there to remove him, 'Thug radio and TV will have soundbytes a-plenty with which to bash the Dems who try to remove him. Pathetic that that's what we've been reduced to.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Laurence Keitt, another Congressman, brandished a pistol to protect Brooks as he beat Sumner and prevent other Senators from coming to Sumner's aid.
Keitt suffered no sanction.
made a comment about bringing a gun into the main legislative chamber of the United States, that person would be in the slammer so fast it would make his head swim. Why is this man immune from such action?
We're not going to get anything accomplished again in this country until these people begin to understand that they are merely citizens, the same as any of us, and are expected to follow the same laws that we must follow. This man is threatening a member of congress, or lots of members, possibly, with violence.
They need mental health professionals to curb their swaggering authoritarian attitude. Giving this redneck idiot a gun is like giving a match to TNT.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
what whacked out woman would want this fool examining her vay-jay? Just sayin'
These sick Reslug bastards must be thrown out of office.
I would like to hear the order in which he would gun down the Senators with his weapon. This is just more insecure white guy with 2" penis blowhard claptrap.
DiddyMao
that coburn did resign. so what? his constituents, who clearly like him, would simply elect someone else just like him, changing.........................nothing, except maybe the name plate on his congressional office door.
i really don't see that as progress.
if he were to pack heat on the Senate floor and use it, nothing would happen to his ass, even if he shot Joe Lieberman IN THE FACE.
I usually agree with Olbermann but this time I think he is wrong, I think the Senator should be able to pack heat, if they make these stupid laws that allow guns everywhere and are beholden to the NRA then they should live with the same threat of gun play that the rest of us live with.
Tom Coburn is a reprehensible asshole.
Next thing you know, this guy 'll be wishing he could pack heat into the Current teevee studios.
me-oww!
Had a female co worker take a 30 day suspension for saying I need to bring my gun to work. It was an obvious joke, but the comapny has zero tolerance after a shooting incident in a comapny plant in anoter state.
until a load of people you know or employ are mowed down in a hail of gunfire.
me-oww!
...we have a senator trafficking in eliminationist rhetoric.
Coburn should not only resign, he should be thoroughly interrogated by the FBI, Obama's Secret Service detail & the Justice Dept.
When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in excess body fat & carrying a misspelled sign.
are dangerous. Doesn't matter if he has no intention of shooting anyone. We can't know he isn't planning something, and, furthermore, the jackwagons who support him might make it happen if he doesn't himself.
Republicans piss me off. Uncle Tom gay republicans piss me off even more, for they, of all people, should know better.
can he say this and not be brought up on charges? He has essentially implied that he would like to eliminate senators who do not agree with him. Also, Olberman is right. All it would take is for some loose cannon with an axe to grind to hear that and go off, a la Tucson.
Republicans piss me off. Uncle Tom gay republicans piss me off even more, for they, of all people, should know better.
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