Who is this Tom Coburn who would feature prominently in the "new kind of politics"?

[draft_mario_cuomo]

Some highlights:

Thomas Allen "Tom" Coburn, M.D. (born March 14, 1948) is a medical doctor and a Republican U.S. Senator from Oklahoma.

Political career

Coburn was considered one of the "true believers" in the Republican freshman class of 1995, and was one of the most conservative members of the House. He supported reducing the size of the federal budget and opposed abortion and supported the proposed V-chip legislation.

==While he served in the House, he earned a reputation as a maverick due to his frequent battles with House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Most of these stand-offs stemmed from his belief that the Republican caucus was moving toward the political left and away from the more conservative "Contract With America" policy proposals that had placed the Republicans into power in Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years. Specifically, Coburn was concerned that the Contract's term limits had not been implemented, and that the Republicans were continuing the excessive federal spending (also called pork barrel spending) that they had so vigorously opposed when the Democrats were in the majority.==

==Coburn endorsed conservative activist and former diplomat Alan Keyes in the 2000 Republican presidential primaries, although he supported George W. Bush after the nomination was sewn up.==

Read that again

==Coburn endorsed conservative activist and former diplomat Alan Keyes in the 2000 Republican presidential primaries, although he supported George W. Bush after the nomination was sewn up.==

==Coburn's Senate voting record is as conservative as his House record. He received a perfect 100% rating from the American Conservative Union for the year 2005.==

Political Positions

Abortion

==In 2000, Coburn sponsored a bill to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from developing, testing or approving the abortifacient RU-486. On July 13, the bill failed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 182 to 187.<7> On the issue, Coburn sparked controversy with his remark about feticidal gynecologists "I favor the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life."<8> Coburn also objects to legal abortion in cases of rape, and he has justified his position by noting that his great-grandmother was raped by a sheriff.<9> In the U.S. Senate confirmation hearings concerning Samuel Alito, Coburn asserted that his grandmother was a product of that rape.==

==Genetic Discrimination and HIV Prevention

In 1997, Coburn introduced a bill called the HIV Prevention Act of 1997, which would have amended the Social Security Act. The bill would have mandated HIV testing in some situations, would have allowed physicians to demand an HIV test before providing medical care, and would have allowed insurance companies to demand an HIV test as a condition of issuing health insurance.<14>==

==Block of Rachel Carson commemoration

On May 23, 2007, Coburn threatened to block two bills honoring the 100th birthday of Rachel Carson. Coburn called Carson's work "junk science", proclaiming that Silent Spring, "was the catalyst in the deadly worldwide stigmatization against insecticides, especially DDT."==

Controversies

==Homosexuality

According to The American Prospect, during Coburn's 2004 senatorial campaign, he quoted a local resident that in the town of Coalgate, Oklahoma, "Lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in Southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom. Now think about it."<28> School officials have denied his statement.<29> Coburn has also been quoted as saying:

“ "The gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power... That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today. Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That's a gay agenda."<30>==

He was caught on tape saying the lesbianism in schools comment by a Democratic staffer of his rival Brad Carson.

==Schindler's List television broadcast

As a congressman in 1997, Coburn protested NBC's plan to air the R-rated Academy Award-winning Holocaust drama Schindler's List during prime time. Coburn stated that, in airing the movie without editing it for television, TV had been taken "to an all-time low, with full-frontal nudity, violence and profanity." He also said the TV broadcast should outrage parents and decent-minded individuals everywhere. Coburn described the airing of Schindler's List on television as "...irresponsible sexual behavior...I cringe when I realize that there were children all across this nation watching this program."

Since the film deals mainly with the Holocaust, many people showed disgust with this statement, including a number of fellow Republican Congressmen who criticized Coburn in their speeches. Coburn apologized after heavy criticisms "to all those I have offended" and clarified that he agreed with the movie being aired on television, but insisted it should have been on later in the evening. In apologizing, Coburn said that at that time of the evening there are still large numbers of children watching without parental supervision, and stated that he stood by his message of protecting children from violence, but had expressed it poorly. He also said, "my intentions were good, but I've obviously made an error in judgment in how I've gone about saying what I wanted to say."

He later wrote in his book Breach of Trust that he considered this one of the biggest mistakes in his life and that, while he still feels the material was unsuitable for an 8 p.m. television broadcast, he handled the situation poorly.==

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Coburn#Early_life_and_career

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