Conservative Tom Coburn: Pelosi Is 'Nice,' Fox 'Biased'

Staunchly conservative Republican Senator Tom Coburn displayed a surprising bipartisan spirit at a recent town hall in his home state of Oklahoma, praising Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi and putting down Fox News. He may be “180 degrees in opposition” to Pelosi, Coburn told the crowd, but “she is a nice lady.” “How many of you all have met her,” he challenged the assembly, which booed in return.

Coburn wasn’t done tweaking his constituents, the Hill reports, and moved on to say non-disparaging things about health care reform. When a questioner suggested that the government might throw people in jail for not buying insurance, as mandated by law, Coburn scoffed. “That makes for good TV news on Fox but that isn’t the intention,” he said. What’s more, “don’t catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody is no good,” he scolded. “The people in Washington are good.” (More Tom Coburn stories.)