Sen. Mitch McConnell Takes Stage At CPAC While Waving A Rifle

McConnell then presented the rifle to retiring Sen. Tom Coburn. If you can stand it, CPAC is being live-streamed on CSPAN3.

GOP Sen. Tom Coburn (OK) To Retire

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has announced that he retire this year before the 2016 conclusion of his term. He has been battling prostate cancer.

Coburn’s decision could set off a major scramble among Republicans hoping to replace him. U.S. Reps. Tom Cole, R-Moore; James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City; and Jim Bridenstine, R-Tulsa, will likely consider the race, along with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. Coburn timed his resignation so his replacement could be elected during the regular ballot process this year. It will be a very compressed time frame for a statewide race, particularly for those who don’t have statewide name recognition. Both U.S. Senate seats will be on the ballot in Oklahoma; U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, is running for reelection.

Coburn has a 0% rating from the Human Rights Campaign. During the health care reform battle in 2009, Coburn suggested praying that the bill's Senate supporters be unable to attend the vote. Some interpreted that remark as a wish for accidents or illness.

UPDATE: Gawker has posted a recap of "godawful things said by Coburn."  Here's one from the list: "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. Think about that issue. How is it that that's happened to us?"

GOP Sen. Tom Coburn: The Cowards In The Senate Are Just Lucky I Can't Carry A Gun

GOP Sen. Tom Coburn says he's so disgusted with his colleagues, that "It's a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor." Coburn continued his diatribe by declaring that the health care system was better back when patients paid their doctors in chickens.

“You can’t tell me the system is better now than it was before Medicare,” he said. He told a group at the Integris Mayes County Medical Center in Pryor, Okla.: “Show me where in the Constitution the federal government is responsible for your health care?” Without specifying what he meant, Coburn said President Barack Obama has an “intent is to create dependency because it worked so well for him.” The World’s caption below a photo of Coburn reads the understated: “Disagrees with Obama’s politics.” “As an African-American male,” Coburn said, Obama received “tremendous advantage from a lot of these programs.” The programs were not identified in the World report.

Double bonus GOP points for the racism in the last sentence!

Sen. Coburn's Prayer Backfires, Other Oklahoma Senator Misses Health Care Vote

Remember when Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked for prayers that a fellow Senator miss the crucial cloture vote on health care reform, presumably due to illness or death? This morning, teabaggers were wondering if their prayers backfired when Coburn's Oklahoma GOP colleague Sen. James Inhofe failed to show for a second procedural vote. From a caller to Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) during a C-SPAN show:

CALLER: Yeah doctor. Our small tea bag group here in Whitecross, we got our vigil together and took Dr. Coburn’s instructions and prayed real hard that Sen. Byrd would either die or couldn’t show up at the vote the other night. How hard did you pray because I see one of our members was missing this morning. Did it backfire on us? One of our members died? How hard did you pray senator? Did you pray hard enough?

(Via - Think Progress)

Sen. Tom Coburn: Pray For Something Bad To Happen To Pro-Reform Senators

Facing a possible 60-vote approval of health care reform, last night Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) said, "What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can't make the vote tonight. That's what they ought to pray." Pray for an illness, Senator? A car accident? A death? What, exactly?

Sen. Coburn: If You're Sick, Tough Luck

Wingnut Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) tells a woman that she shouldn't expect help from the government just because her husband has a traumatic brain injury. "The idea that the government is a solution to our problems in inaccurate."