Praise for Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn

Senator Tom Coburn, who represents Oklahoma in the national senate, did something that surprised not only his constituents and political backers, but apparently the nation as a whole: He told people attending a town hall meeting in his home state that although he disagreed with her politics, he would not stand for people calling Nancy Pelosi anything but a nice person outside the political arena.

Despite negative feedback from his town hall audience, Sen. Coburn stuck by his statement about House Speaker Pelosi.

Coburn's surprise statements didn't end with his defense of a political adversary as a decent human being. When members of the town hall meeting audience began making statements about the recent health care reform bill that were untrue--such as fearing going to jail for not having health insurance--this man told his listeners not to get all their news from Fox, that it was no one's intention for people to go to jail over the health insurance issue.

He advised his listeners to get their information from more than one source to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.

This right-wing politician who has been nicknamed "Dr. No" for his frequent blocking of bills he opposes took a courageous and admirable stand in that town hall meeting. It is refreshing to see that this representative of the people is not a cardboard cutout with no regard for decency--as so many in the political and media arenas are these days. He has earned my respect.

Further reading: The Wall Street Journal