Tom Coburn: Couldn't Do One Decent Thing (even for Vets) Before Leaving Senate

What is it with these Oklahoma Republican Senators? One (Jim Inhofe) is dumb as a sack of hammers and wouldn't know a Jokulhlaup from the polar vortex. (Recall that “jokalhlaups”are sudden bursts of melting runoff from glaciers. It was this phenomena that also played a role in the “unusual cracks" that set off the separation of a chunk of ice the size of Manhattan” - or 19 sq. miles - from Ellesmere Island in Canada’s northern Arctic, nearly ten years ago). And yet this buffoon - who actually believes global warming is a "hoax" is set to take over the Senate Environmental Committee.

Then there is Sen. Tom Coburn - otherwise known as "Doctor No",  because of all the bills he's torpedoed - good or bad (he makes no distinction) - in all his years in the Senate. Coburn once bragged that it "only takes one Senator to stop a bill" - and I sure wish to hell the Dems would take note when the pukes bring up a bunch of execrable legislation next year.

This jerk had one last chance to be a humanitarian and allow a bill to pass the Senate (it already passed the Tea Party -laden House) which would have helped thousands of vets suffering from PTSD, but he blocked it. He said the $22m cost was "too much".  The bill,  dubbed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans (SAV) Act,  would have addressed the epidemic of veteran suicides in the wake of the two lengthy U.S. occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Coburn was more intent to stand by his rep as Doctor No, following his established template.

Incredibly, to try to justify his reprehensible action, Coburn went into a long,  incoherent rant which also served as his swan song. (Parts were played on the Rachel Maddow show last night). This jag-off, so you know and are aware, also blocked  a planned VA Hospital for Tulsa, OK because it was "too nice".  He actually complained to the TULSA WORLD, that he was in favor of a "better VA Hospital" but "not the Taj Mahal" adding "they're building a Taj Mahal". Actually no, they were building a hospital with all the services (plus some amenities) that wounded vets needed, to expedite their return to health and society. But did this prick care? Hell no! As long as he could collect his fat Senator checks for mostly sitting on his ass, using filibusters or saying "No!"

Last night Coburn one-upped his disgusting behavior by taking to the Senate floor to single-handedly block the SAV bill. This toad was the lone obstacle in the way for a bill that's 100 percent bipartisan and otherwise would have passed.  He said he "didn't care how much support the bill had" he was personally going to block it.

Maddow, in referencing Coburn, said what she didn't expect was his "rambling, emotional incoherence" in trying to deliver a backhanded justification for his move.

Sure enough, this shameless troll launched out into some award the French gave his grand daddy in World War I before claiming "as a physician, I know suicide all too well". Really? Then how about a vote for the SAV act, doofus?

He then admits having "failed patients in the past, doing everything I knew to do....even treated patients with the demons....that these young veterans have."

Seriously, you jackass? You treated the "demons"? Well how about this, you were an incompetent toad and if the SAV act you just blocked had been around then those vets you couldn't help wouldn't have been lost to your bull pockey!  Harsh? Damned fuckin' A believe it's harsh because this asshole merits nothing less.

Coburn then launched into a long harangue about the lack of respect for vets, and that "they deserved respect" - which they do - but this has nada to do with  his blocking the SAV bill (except that it showed HIS disrespect).  The most telling remark was near the end, when be babbled:

"My heart breaks for the people who commit suicide. You know what it is? They find no relief anywhere else except death. There's no answer for them! We don't give it to them, we have failed them."

Uh no, buttbrain, YOU have failed them- by blocking a bill that for a relative pittance ($22m) compared to the expansion of war toys ($600b) could have given thousands of vets hope.

Even Maddow was nonplussed, asking: "Does anyone have any idea substantively what Tom Coburn is talking about?"

I believe I do, and it's par for the course for this rat: That is, if vets have a problem getting suicide prevention assistance let them take it up with the VA because no more added money is needed (in Dr. No's estimation) to help them.  Never mind the VA is massively overburdened as it is just treating the physical costs and wounds of war, including brain damage from IEDs. and paralysis.

Susan Selke, mother of Clay Hunt, put it bluntly but in much more civil fashion than I would:

"As parents who experienced the pain of losing a veteran to suicide, it is shocking to see this bill blocked because of one lone Senator’s agenda, Too many veterans are facing the same bureaucratic red tape Clay confronted years ago, and they are looking to our elected leaders for hope. While throughout this process we have been so thankful for the widespread and sincere support from our Congressional leaders, today, once again, vets like my son were failed."

Meanwhile, Veterans' groups are outraged as they should be, because Coburn's blockage is as offensive as a punch in the face.

And what about those Okies that elected this turd? Will they keep on being dumb and electing the same buffoons as Inhofe and Coburn year after year?  We will have to wait to see, but their record thus far isn't encouraging!

On the good side, as Maddow observed, this bill will pass next year when Coburn is no longer around. And on the bad side (for Coburn) this is the one thing for which he will always be remembered.