Tom Coburn cries over partisanship, divisiveness

These remarks were also featured on the Daily Show the other night, but worth printing here for hypocrisy fun comix purposes on Lite-Post Thursday:

Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, denounced "judicial activism" and the idea of a Supreme Court that functions as a "superlegislative body.” And then, out of nowhere, his voice broke and he seemed to lose control for a moment, declaring, "my heart aches," and calling for "less polarization, less bitterness, less partisanship." "Our family structures have declined. Our dependency on government has grown," he lamented.

What was Coburn crying about? He seemed to grow emotional when he began talking about our divided country, and calling for one, united America. But the Roberts confirmation battle has been a pretty easy ride so far--it's not like these are shaping up to be highly divisive hearings. With the Republicans in charge of everything in Washington, and Bush on the verge of installing both a new Chief Justice and a second Supreme Court justice, it's not like partisanship is blocking them at every turn. Besides which, Coburn is the guy who called for the death penalty for abortion doctors, denounced his moderate opponent in the 2004 election as "evil," and called homosexuality America's number-one problem. The idea that he's lamenting divisive politics is a little much.