In praise of Tom Coburn, the thinking man's Ted Cruz

Make no mistake, Coburn was a serious right-winger. First elected to the House in the 1994 “Republican revolution,” he was part of a small group of congressmen who fought Newt Gingrich from the right.

In 2000, Coburn endorsed Alan Keyes for president. He made anti-abortion statements stronger than anything Todd Akin ever uttered publicly. As senator he has reminded his colleagues, and the occasional Supreme Court nominee, that Congress’ powers are limited to Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

That last bit shouldn’t be controversial in a constitutional republic, but in today’s political climate a belief that the Constitution is an exhaustive list of the federal government’s legitimate powers marks one as far right.

So while you can point to Coburn’s support for proposals like the centrist Simpson-Bowles plan, and the occasional Democratic praise for “going against more extreme members of his political party,” Coburn was no friend of the less conservative members of the Republican establishment.