Senator Coburn is stepping down, presumable because of his bout with
cancer. The big question now is “who
will replace him”.
The other day, Congressman James Lankford announced his candidacy to replace
Senator Coburn. When Lankford first took office as my representative, I
was delighted because I honestly believed he was a true conservative.
I was wrong.
He is a moderate at best.
Lankford has gone along with the establishment leadership in the House on a
number of critical votes and I have come to believe he would do the same in the
Senate.
I think we should all take
a good long look at Congressman Jim Bridenstine fill Coburn’s Senate seat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bridenstine
Here is what Lankford told a reporter from “The Hill”.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/195934-lankford-slams-conservative-groups-as-part-of-the-problem
It is very frustrating to me when Republicans who want to project the image
of a conservative at home right before a campaign, but throw in with the status
quo establishment in Washington the rest of their term.
But Lankford’s defense of his budget deal vote is just bizarre. He
defends his support for the December Ryan-Murray deal as a vote “in favor of
strong national defense.” Presumably, he means that the deal reinstated
some of the defense spending by partially repealing the sequester.
Here’s the problem: all the spending offsets
in the deal were notional or intangible – except for the cuts to military
pensions for those already serving! So he defends a vote for increased
spending and funding Obamacare as a vote for national defense when the only
real spending cut in the bill hurt veterans.
Fast-forward to last week and Lankford voted
against the omnibus
bill. The omnibus was merely the long-form budget laid out under the
blueprint of Ryan-Murray, which he supported. You can’t complain about
some of the spending increases which busted the budget caps because that was
already set in motion by the December agreement, which, again, Lankford deemed
worthy because of the sequester repeal.
Moreover, on some level, at least the omnibus repealed some of the military
pension cuts. That’s why some members who opposed Ryan-Murray felt
compelled to support the bill. Most other conservatives didn’t fall for
the trap and voted no on both. But Lankford voted for Ryan-Murray,
supposedly because of better defense spending, yet voted against its blood
child bill, which reinstated some of the military pension cuts in the original
bill.
If this was such a wondrous bipartisan budget deal opposed only by the
“absolutist” conservative groups why did Lankford vote against the omnibus –
especially after he supported the FY 2012 omnibus?
The only coherent reason that can be offered is that he wasn’t about to
saddle himself with a bad vote a week before his planned Senate announcement.
Yes, my friends,
that’s “the Washington,
D.C. game.” And despite only being in
politics for three years, he has learned to play quite naturally.
When Coburn ran for the Senate in 2004, the establishment rallied behind his
opponent in the primary.
Coburn was the
outsider.
But conservatives united
behind him, rallied, and won. I think we should do the same for Jim
Bridenstine.
I have not met Mr. Bridenstine, but I know he’s a veteran and a solid
conservative whom I believe would continue Senator Coburn’s commitment to
rooting out government waste, fraud, and abuse.
I also believe he will stand with Senators Cruz and Lee to fight the
fight that must be fought even against his own side over the size and scope of
the federal government.
I haven’t been pleased with EVERY vote made by Senator Coburn, but overall
he has done a very good job.
I was
pleased to hear the he is endorsing Jim Bridenstine./
Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-_ovjgSLKk&feature=youtu.be
That’s
my thoughts. What do you think?
HERE's a last minute update;
I