Senator Coburn Creates Angst Over Oklahoma Assistance

What is Oklahoma Senator Coburn thinking? (He's obviously NOT.)

His response to tornado relief reported in the National Memo is badly timed, to say the least, and cruel, at worst.

"Oklahoma Senator Demands Spending Cuts In Exchange For Disaster Relief,"- oh really? 

Why doesn't Senator Coburn  begin by cutting his generous government paid salary and benefits?

Dealing with the catastrophe aftermath of an F5 tornado should bring Senator Coburn in front of television cameras to praise the rescue efforts.  Thankfully, Oklahoma's well spoken Governor Mary Fallin is saying and doing all the right things to support Oklahoma and the victims of the tornado, while Senator Coburn creates angst. Shame on him!

On the other hand, while Coburn bristles politics, during his constituents' grief, President Obama has responded generously and appropriately. President Obama said:

"In the aftermath of the massive tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma on Monday, President Barack Obama promised that, 'As a nation, our full focus is on the urgent work of rescue and the hard work of recovery and rebuilding that lies ahead,' and told the victims, 'You face a long road ahead, but you will not travel it alone. Your country will travel it with you'.”

Apparently, that sentiment wasn't shared by Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn (R). Just hours after the storm hit, Senator Coburn (R) told CQ Roll Call that he would not support providing disaster aid to his own constituents, unless it's offset by other federal spending cuts.

Although the tornado damage in Moore, near Oklahoma City, is still being assessed and the death toll is expected to rise, Coburn (R-OK) jumped to the conclusion that federal disaster aid to his suffering state must be paid for with cuts elsewhere.  This circular reasoning is incredulous. He shows complete insensitivity for the suffering of his Oklahoma constituents.
Coburn insists, according to National Memo, that he will fight to make sure disaster funding from the federal government is paid for. It’s a position he has taken repeatedly during his career when Congress debated emergency funding for disaster aid.

On Tuesday, after Coburn’s stance attracted widespread criticism, the senator’s office released a statement slamming those who say he's more concerned with ideology than with the economic reality or the well-being of his constituents.

Rather than his first statement to the press be an apology for his statement, or, (God Forbid) sympathy for his constituents, Senator Coburn, instead, defended his stupidity:

“It is crass for critics to play disaster aid politics when first rescuers are pulling victims from the rubble,” the statement reads, ignoring the fact that Coburn himself barely waited before announcing his preemptive opposition to the still-undefined aid package.

Oklahoma's senior Senator Inofe pushed back on Coburn's negativity.  Senator, Jim Inhofe (R), declined to endorse Coburn’s position during a Tuesday morning appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Inhofe, who had called the Hurricane Sandy relief bill a “slush fund” before voting against it, insisted that the situation in Oklahoma is “totally different.” (Oh paleeeze! Really....????)

Well, both of Oklahoma's senators need to learn communications. They must take lessons from their state's governor Fallin, who clearly knows how to support her devastated citizens.

Perhaps, hopefully, one progressive outcome of the terrible Oklahoma tornado might be that voters will finally remove their two entrenched and highly paid senators. They need to be put out of office. (Especially, considering how Senator Coburn lied about recently debunked Benghazi emails, creating myths about another tragedy. Certainly, his deceitful behavior is grounds for censure.)

Meanwhile, Americans are emotionally united in support of the Moore, Oklahoma victims and all who were in harms way on Monday, May 20th, when the F5 destroyed their lives, forever.

Media Creating News - Diseminating Lies Before Finding Truth

News about a controversial Benghazi email was given main stream media credibility when CBS reported the false communication as being fact.  

In fact, the email at the core of the (false) Republican case said that the White House fixed the Benghazi talking points, in the immediate aftermath of the attack on our US consulate, in order to edit out any reference to terroris'.  It was supposedly done to minimize public concern about the attack in the weeks before the 2012 election. But the email that Republicans spread lies about is a fake.  The actual White House email, far from proving an attempt by the White House to spin Benghazi for political purposes, shows a concerted effort between the White House, with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the State Department jointly concerned about getting the facts right. 

But CBS spun it differently.

Mark Twain aptly described the consequences of this CBS leap into yellow journalism when he described how a lie travels halfway around the world before truth puts its shoes on.

There's some media duplicity in this situation, as well.  Although American journalists are justifiably screaming in outrage about the Justice Department subpoena of Associated Press phone   records related to national security leaks, they're somewhat moot about the CBS email lie.

Contributing to this spiraling email lie was Joe Scarborough, on his "Morning Joe" program when Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn went unchallenged when he raised the spectre of a clandestine Benghazi email.  Frankly, Scarborough allowed Coburn to engage in tangential thinking about the now discredited email would eventually be revealed.  Scarborough didn't challenging Coburn to validate his claims.  It turns out, Scarborough was remiss in his responsibility to challenge Coburn. As for Senator Coburn, his lie should lead to a censure from the US Senate.  

Outrage about recently reported White House scandals involving the Benghazi emails, the subpoena of Associated Press phone records and the Internal Revenue Service targeting certain non-profits, should also include a scolding of CBS for spreading a lie.

What goes around comes around, is an age old truism.

As the media leaps to a hot lead for the purpose of gaining competitive advantage, as the first to report, they must also accept responsibility for contributing to Republican muckraking of current    scandals. 

CBS owes the American people an apology.  Likewise,  a "muzzle whistle" should be included in the Morning Joe program, so Scarborough can block Senator Coburn the next time (and there will be one) he goes into tangential lying mode.  

There's an abundance of media time to fill up these days, but none of it should accommodate lies.