The Occasional Observer

Following up on yesterday's Coburn article, looks like the good doctor got his way.

Coburn (R-Okla.) prevailed in blocking a massive package of generally non-controversial bills that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid brought to the floor, angering Democrats and some Republicans while raising Coburn's status as a cult hero to fiscal conservatives. The vote was 52-40 on a procedural motion that required 60 votes.

The package of about three dozen bills includes research money for paralysis victims, a civil rights bill named after Emmitt Till and a crackdown on child pornography. Yet the package also has dozens of other measures that would authorize billions in programs for the environment, foreign relations and health care.

Reid says Coburn and his minions are starving the poor and keeping the lame in wheelchairs:

The vote sent Reid into one of his trademark tirades on the Senate floor, as he basically accused Republicans of voting against people with strokes, people in wheelchairs and those suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.

"You go home and explain to your folks [voters] about stroke legislation," Reid said. "You go home and tell people ... in a wheelchair you voted against moving forward on something that could get them out of their wheelchair."

"You're going to have to go home and explain to the poor, the disabled and the elderly,"

For his part, Sen. Coburn's rationale is simple enough:

"I have insisted on debating and improving many of these bills because this body has a moral obligation to future generations to live within our means."