Did Coburn Condone Violent Rhetoric?

What’s striking about Tom Coburn’s appearance on Meet The Press Sunday is not that he went on another, typical GOP anti-government tirade. It’s that he declined to criticize town hall protestors who allude to violence.

Coburn, Oklahoma’s junior senator, told David Gregory that government had earned the ire of the “town hell” protestors, who are mainly Republican, loud and fueled by the right-wing noise machine and vested corporate interests. But, see, the protests are really about massive federal spending, according to Coburn. The health care anti-reform movement is a “symptom” of an underlying condition, he said.

But, in the above clip, Coburn didn’t specifically address Gregory’s comparison of one protestor with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. The protestor, who was wearing a gun, held a poster with the words “It is time to water the tree of liberty,” which is a reference to Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote, which goes: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Gregory made the point that McVeigh was wearing a T-shirt with the quote on it on the day of the federal building bombing, which killed 168 people

Coburn’s refusal to condemn right-wing violent rhetoric against the government is a calculated political move to assure his base, but it’s irresponsible and even dangerous.