Senate Ethics a contradiction in terms
posted at 4:15 pm on August 12, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Ted Stevens just got indicted on corruption charges. Harry Reid has had his legislative fingerprints all over his land deals in Nevada. Larry Craig pled guilty to disorderly conduct in relation to efforts to importune an undercover cop for sexual activity in a Minneapolis airport restroom.
So who has become the focus of the Senate Ethics Committee? Tom Coburn, for birthing babies at no charge:
The Senate Ethics Committee has told Republican Sen. Tom Coburn that he’ll be engaged in a “serious violation of Senate rules” if he continues delivering babies back home in Oklahoma.
Coburn’s response: So what?
“On my own time, I’m taking care of women who have a need, and I’m going to continue to deliver babies,” Coburn, an obstetrician, told Politico. “I’m not going to stop.”
Coburn would not say specifically whether he has actually delivered a baby since the June 22 deadline set by the Ethics Committee, but he made it clear that he could deliver one any day now — and thereby force the Ethics Committee to put up or shut up.
The Ethics Committee claims that Coburn’s work constitutes a conflict of interest. However, Coburn receives no compensation for his services. Their biggest beef is that Coburn performs these services at a for-profit facility, which apparently offends the sensibilities of the civic-minded panel.
For some reason, they don’t seem offended by a Senator who earmarks millions of dollars to benefit bundlers raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for a presidential campaign. It gives a clear indication of the backwardness of Senate ethics. A member can sell himself out to campaign contributors and not even garner a raised eyebrow from the ethics watchdogs, but deliver a baby? Stone the crows!
Maybe the Ethics Committee could suggest a compromise. If Coburn promises to dump the infants in soiled-linen hampers, would that help?
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I’m just slack jawed with amazement. Harry Reid sure has been a great Majority Leader. You go dems.
funky chicken on August 12, 2008 at 4:20 PM
And these guys are going to win in Novemeber?
Iblis on August 12, 2008 at 4:20 PM
I voted Coburn into office before I left Oklahoma for Colorado. Who to complain to on this one? Coburn is my hero.
craig on August 12, 2008 at 4:21 PM
Ed, just curious. Is there not a way for the RNC to toss Stevens and Craig out on their butts? Both have refused to step down at crucial times, which has hurt the nation and the party.
funky chicken on August 12, 2008 at 4:22 PM
send donations to Shaffer, and of course vote for him in November.
funky chicken on August 12, 2008 at 4:23 PM
Coburn rulez!
Chakra Hammer on August 12, 2008 at 4:23 PM
Who filed this?
drjohn on August 12, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Ethics? Infanticide, yes. Safe delivery, no.
Keep it front and center, Ed.
maverick muse on August 12, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Coburn should tell that corrupt gaggle of senate goons to blow it out their ears or the orifice of their choice. This government is quickly becoming disgusting.
rplat on August 12, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Coburn for VP, and highlight Obama’s love for live birth Abortion. >:D
Chakra Hammer on August 12, 2008 at 4:26 PM
Tom Coburn is getting an e-mail from me today…
thanking him for his service to the community!
Kaptain Amerika on August 12, 2008 at 4:28 PM
thats for sure.
right4life on August 12, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Wow, so its OK to funnel TAX dollars to a FOR PROFIT hospital that your wife words at, so she gets a raise,
But its NOT OK to deliver babies, on your own time, for Free?
Wow… just… wow
I think there needs to be a National Commercial on this…
Romeo13 on August 12, 2008 at 4:29 PM
How dare he!! And not charging either? /s
coldwarrior on August 12, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Obama is such a radical Pro-Abortionist that even a staunch pro-choice Barbara Boxer strongly disagreed with Obama on live birth abortion and partial birth abortions.
Chakra Hammer on August 12, 2008 at 4:33 PM
If only he would wise up and abort those babies instead, then we would not have to try to destroy him.
Lunkinator on August 12, 2008 at 4:35 PM
Maybe it’s the malpractice insurance lobbyist that raised the complaint to the Ethics Committee’s tender audio orifices.
tree hugging sister on August 12, 2008 at 4:35 PM
Are you just being polite, Ed? “Backwardness” is not the word I’d have used.
BacaDog on August 12, 2008 at 4:35 PM
Stone the crows???
MarkTheGreat on August 12, 2008 at 4:37 PM
Oh, and let’s not forget to add the esteemed Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA)to the list.
BacaDog on August 12, 2008 at 4:38 PM
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native criminal class except Congress.
- Mark Twain
MB4 on August 12, 2008 at 4:38 PM
Senate Ethics a contradiction in terms.
Oxymoron.
Jaibones on August 12, 2008 at 4:39 PM
No good deed goes unpunished.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on August 12, 2008 at 4:40 PM
I love Coburn! Funny how the liberal trolls never seem to post on threads like these, when Dems are shown to be at their best.
Grafted on August 12, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Or better yet, what if he was aborting them just before birth? I can’t imagine Pelosi having a problem with that…I just wish someone would ask her in public.
Blaise on August 12, 2008 at 4:51 PM
indeed.
Lunkinator on August 12, 2008 at 4:52 PM
What a bunch of dumbasses.
CP on August 12, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Oh yes! This has to be made into an ad. What better way to illustrate to the people just how screwed in the head the dems are than to go after a senator for delivering babies. The ads just write themselves. Just list the dirty deals of Uuuuuuhbama, Reid, Jefferson, Feinstein, etc. Then show who the “senate ethics committee” goes after. A doctor who delivers babies free of charge.
thekingtut on August 12, 2008 at 4:54 PM
Such dizzying heights of squalid stupidity!
ronsfi on August 12, 2008 at 4:56 PM
+1! Where is Dave Rywall and Dan Kenton when the liberal hypocrisy is so ripe?
kirkill on August 12, 2008 at 4:56 PM
Mutually exclusive.
tree hugging sister on August 12, 2008 at 4:57 PM
“If Coburn promises to dump the infants in soiled-linen hampers, would that help?”
He’d get the Congressional Medal of Honor for that one.
Want to eliminate abortions?
Allow fetuses to register as Democrats.
NoDonkey on August 12, 2008 at 4:59 PM
I was just thinking how David Zucker’s next work could be about Congress. Thing is, he wouldn’t even have to write a script. He could just have headlines read off by conservative actors.
MadisonConservative on August 12, 2008 at 5:02 PM
That won’t save them. ACORN will register dead people too.
BacaDog on August 12, 2008 at 5:02 PM
“So What” Perfect response!
I dont see how they can do this when they do nothing to Senators who do do illegal activity.
Stupid waste of time! grrrrr
becki51758 on August 12, 2008 at 5:07 PM
Keep up your good work Dr. Corburn. It seems OK has many good people in that state.
L
letget on August 12, 2008 at 5:10 PM
Please please please pursue this, Nancy. Pretty please, with sugar on top. Show the country your idea of what the most transparent, ethical Congress in history looks like.
PLEASE give Republicans an excuse to bring up the ethical shortcomings of your Democrat comrades as you go after Coburn for delivering babies. See which side wins that one in the court of public opinion.
Hollowpoint on August 12, 2008 at 5:13 PM
So I guess any Senators who are lawyers need to be investigated for any pro bono work they’ve done.
BacaDog on August 12, 2008 at 5:14 PM
Perhaps Senator Coburn should reach across the aisle and compromise with the Democrats: no more deliveries in return for no more abortions! How is that for bipartisanship. Make it public and make it loud all across the country. Who is for life and who is for death. (Just take a look at Pelosi and Reid.)
jerseyman on August 12, 2008 at 5:14 PM
And these guys are going to win in Novemeber?
Iblis on August 12, 2008 at 4:20 PM
Good question - why does everyone assume they’re going to win more seats. Their performance is horrendous.
Stevel on August 12, 2008 at 5:16 PM
Bet it would not be a problem if he was performing abortions.
Wade on August 12, 2008 at 5:22 PM
The Senate don’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies….
They are are bunch of overfed, pampered babies!
MrScribbler on August 12, 2008 at 5:41 PM
I don’t often write my congress critter, but had to over this:
Greetings,
You and Kay Bailey Hutchison are my senators. I have been proud to vote for y’all every time. Though I doubt you will have much trouble in your current race, the article in the Politico about your fellow senator Coburn (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12477.html) troubles me greatly.
I realize there are troubles with ethics and elected officials, but to go after Coburn for what he does strikes me as even dumber than “zero tolerance”.
Maybe there is something that was not reported. If so, forgive my ignorance and please educate me. If not, why did you send letters to him to stop what he was doing?
Isn’t what he is doing the very definition of public service.
I think what senator Coburn, and congressman Burgess, does is a rare bright spot for your fellow elected representatives. And I think y’all would appreciate the good publicity.
Seeing as how so many congresspeople are lawyers, how is the passing of laws not a similar conflict of interest? In order to stay current, pilots must fly and doctors must practice. Public service does not mean a person has to give up all other things important to them. Such as being a doctor.
If senator Coburn is forced to stop delivering babies, this is something I will not forget.
cozmo on August 12, 2008 at 5:43 PM
If you look at it like Obama does, Coburn is “punishing” these women. Sort of like waterboarding at Gitmo.
Liberalism is a mental disorder, and Senate ethics is a logical place for the disorder to appear.
Right_of_Attila on August 12, 2008 at 5:44 PM
It doesn’t seem to make any kind of sense, until you realize that Coburn is dispensing free health care, and the Dems aren’t getting any credit.
NellE on August 12, 2008 at 5:49 PM
Those people are sickening. Just sickening.
Zorro on August 12, 2008 at 5:50 PM
…by nine-fold, me thinks.
My collie says:
CyberCipher on August 12, 2008 at 6:11 PM
House is no better. Cold Cash Jefferson is still a voting member. Pelosi owns stock in Boone Pickens’ company seeking millions of grants in fed and state taxpayer funds, not to mention earmarks which indirectly raised the value of real estate she owns in SF which is adjacnet to the target of the earmark improvements.
And she took time off her House job to write a lousy book, too. Injury added to insult, that such manure would be released to the public.
Harry Schell on August 12, 2008 at 7:34 PM
What if he agreed to abort 1 or 2 for every one live one that he delivered? Or maybe contribute a certain amount to Planned Parenthood for each live birth?
I sure wish John Edwards was still in the Senate when something like this came up. They could still call him in to testify if he thinks birthing babies for free is a better option than what he had to pay.
And I thought the Dems are the ones that wanted everyone to have free health care. Silly me.
JeffinOrlando on August 12, 2008 at 8:21 PM
Kay Bailey doesn’t care - she’s pro choice. I find it hard to believe my Senator Cornyn is in on this. Shame! Like someone said earlier, if he were performing abortions, there would be no ethics investigation. Sickening!
Neocon Peg on August 12, 2008 at 9:03 PM
CLARIFICATION - If he (Coburn) were performing…..Not Cornyn.
Neocon Peg on August 12, 2008 at 9:52 PM
Remember, Coburn is the one Obama compared to terrorists.
jgapinoy on August 12, 2008 at 11:00 PM
this isn’t going to disrupt the speakers personal investments, is it?
billypaintbrush on August 13, 2008 at 12:27 AM
.
I can see it now: Show San Fran Nan proclaiming how the dems would help with gasoline prices, then show a gas pump with the price in January 2007, and then a pump with the current price. Overlay the text “Really?”. Scene two: Show Nan again, proclaiming that this would be the ‘most ethical congress ever’, then show Cold Cash Jefferson, and Fla rep Wexler, who does not live in the district, he represents, etc., followed by the ethics committee investigating Coburn, overlay with “Really?”
Think_b4_speaking on August 13, 2008 at 9:58 AM