infobong.com

I can just hear the rationalizations some oklahomans are making on Coburn's behalf. People scare me. Removing someone from the gene-pool without their consent should be a crime, if it isn't for some absurd reason.

Carson for Senate... if nothing else he doesn't seem to mistake himself for god.

The election of Democratic governor Brad Henry was something of a fluke. Cockfighting was on that same ballot, which brought out the rural vote, mostly Democrat. So I would say we still exercise little caution when we pick our ultra-right (and often ultra-dumb) politicians (see Semn. James Inhofe.)

I'm glad that I'm getting something of a discussion going about this. When I was in Tulsa last month, I did see a few "Republicans for Carson" signs around my parents' neighborhood in Southtown, so there's another hopeful data point. I'm registered to vote in Texas, but I'm a native Tulsan and have an Oklahoma driver's license. I find Coburn so distasteful, I should have registered to vote and requested an absentee ballot when I was up there.

Ah, yes, Oklahoma, where cockfighting is the issue that brings out the liberal vote...

(As M4dd4wg knows, I grew up there and so am entitled to make such remarks.)

Do you know Burkhard Bilger, the Okie-raised New Yorker writer who went back to his roots to write Noodling For Flatheads: Moonshine, Monster Catfish and Other Southern Comforts? I read the section on cockfighting when it first appeared in the magazine and it was pretty amazing. Fairly sympathetic, actually.

Just to clarify for any readers unfamiliar with Oklahoma, rural Democrats would be motivated to vote against measures banning cockfighting. In state and local elections, the Democrats often run conservative "Dixiecrats," which appeal to voters who regard the Republican Party as the party of Big Business... and Reconstruction.

The woman has come forward -- in the Tulsa World today. She sounds credible, and Coburn is leaving some big questions unanswered. Here's one I have -- why is there nothing about this in the Daily Oklahoman, where I live in OKC, while it is in other papers all around the world (even the Guardian, in the UK)?

Oh, I don't think it should come as a surprise that The Daily Disappointment is ignoring this story. The Gaylords basically use it as a platform for their creepy right-wing view, leading The Columbia Journalism Review to call it "The Worst Paper in America." Alas, I must suffer the indignity of being an alumnus of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. I didn't know they changed the name or that I even attended that college (I was a film major) until some hapless undergrad called me up asking for donations. He got an earful. :)

That's good that the woman is willing to come forward and The Tulsa World is running the story.

The incident with the sterilization is the least troubling of Coburn's recent problems. My favorites are his comments about Native Americans. This guy is a real piece of work. I know I'm a yankee and have no right to comment on Okie politics, but isn't Oklahoma something like 15% Native American? It doesn't seem smart to bash such a large voting block.