On Thursday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and blasted the show’s panel for misrepresenting the principles of the Tea Party, saying they just don’t “get it.” He also gave the panel a solid history lesson on the Constitution after at least one panelist admitted he was unsure in which section the enumerated powers were located.
After talking fondly of Texas candidate for U.S. Senate Ted Cruz and his victory in the runoff election, Coburn said he was “really amused” by the way they spoke about the Tea Party. “I don’t think you all get it,” he added.
“The Tea Party is every person in America who really is fed up with Washington and recognizes the way we got there was abandoning the core principles of our country but also abandoning the Constitution,” Coburn said.
Co-host Lawrence O’Donnell chimed in and completely changed the subject, not even addressing what Coburn had just said. Instead, O’Donnell brought up how Coburn had recently apologized to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — a topic that came completely out of the blue.
Shortly after, one of the panelists suggested that his public display of civility would work against him within the Tea Party. This is where Coburn started to heat up.