it walks to the tom coburn, and how we had to work with republican leadership and conservatives to get them surrounded and the feet efforts to go for a tax increase when we could have had a vote to get rid of the ethanol mandate that tom coburn supports. the idea that he is a free market guy, a critic of the ethanol mandate is not true. he went on the floor and said i am for the mandate. nothing will change. we had to walk through all of this because he was trying to get the republicans to vote for a tax increase because the actual agenda was a two trillion dollar tax increase which is what tom coburn temporarily endorse. the guys in the house had to walk him back out of that and be him on the subject. we go through the entire drama there. it is unfortunate, but he is not being in a -- he is not being a conservative in that standpoint. >> since he is not here to defend himself, we will stop there. >> no, i am quoting it. >> we will turn to a few questions. i have a stack of questions that came from the audience. i want to thank you for those. keep writing and twittering. let me pull tw

here's senator tom coburn's criticism. >> there's a lot of candidates out therement i'm not inclined to be a supporter of newt gingrich's after serving under him and experienced personally his leadership. there's all types of leaders, leaders that instill confidence, leaders that are somewhat abrupt and brisk. leaders that have one standard for the people they're leading and a different standard for themselves. i just found his leadership lacking. >> you know, i think obviously there are no shortage of critics of newt gingrich. i'm just wondering now shall clarence, if you think mitt romney is going to have to really switch gears here and focus on gingrich instead of the president. >> well, i think he will. tom coburn, i think, perhaps inadvertently helped gingrich by denouncing his leadership in congress. i did a sunday column about how the tea party is betraying their own ideals by supporting gingrich he's the quintessential insider lobbyist, et cetera, all the things that they campaign against. now, they've been through so many other front-runners, they've forgotten why they oppos

interesting, karen, to look at tom coburn's legislation on disclosure in the senate. the complete abundance of evidence to the lack of transparency in the european debt markets, with the fed, with the swaps lines last week to bail out the european debt markets. do you agree at the very least that all of this will help push us towards better transparency? i know that the swaps market was still really unreformed, even though there were aspects of dodd/frank that aspired to do that. >> you know, dylan, i don't know. i think there's a larger metaproblem, if you will. and that's this sort of culture we've come to where nobody's really responsible. i didn't hear jon corzine say, i don't know, but i'm responsible. right? he apologized, he hemmed and hawed it's this lack of responsibility. we talked about it with penn state, we've talked about it time and time again. there's a bigger problem in our culture when people can't be big boys and girls and step up to the plate and say, you know, what, it was my fault. i'm responsible. and then let's fix it. but let's also acknowledg

tom coburn, oklahoma, there's an entire twitter account devoted to his on again, off again beard.t, senator coburn gets a whole lot of attention on capitol hill for one thing. he's a medical doctor. he's also one of the biggest budget cutters in congress. he's from oklahoma but one thing he is not cutting these days is the hair on his face. and it's actually not the first time he's grown a beard. people pay so much attention to his facial hair that someone has gone to set up a twitter account for tom coburn's beard. it tweeted last week the world received an early christmas present, a patchy blanket on tom's face and there was one tweet earlier this year when the beard mentioned that president obama had noticed senator coburn had shafd the beard. this was before the state of the union address. we have sound from that encounter between the president and senator coburn. listen. >> you shaved the beard, huh? it was looking a little scruffy. >> very quick and quiet but you could hear it. >> usually the sound bites are very quick. sometimes they are hard to hear perhaps we have to put

here's what newt said yesterday. >> tom coburn. wish everybody had loved me, but i'd rather be effective representing the american people than be popular inside washington. >> the risk of going after -- of going after newt for not having -- for people that worked with him not being happy with them. there's some risk. >> i think there's a little bit of risk if he wins and he's the nominee for these members of congress. there is a huge crowd. romney doesn't exactly have his work cut out for him finding members of congress who served under gingrich who will come out against him. every day i talk to a republican house member who said gingrich's speaker tenure left a terrible taste in their mouth. >> your side is starting -- it looks like you're starting to turn the aircraft carrier and say, okay, we've been effective hitting romney, and i think there are a lot of republicans who believe that the democratic machine has taken a toll on romney. are you starting to get nervous about newt? >> no. look, i mean, i think newt is in many ways a

senator tom coburn is a conservative republican from oklahoma. very fiscally conservative.he's put out his annual waste book, a list of ways he says the government has wasted american taxpayer dollars. $766,000 went to the anacostia economic development corporation to build this ihop franchise and to train its workers. some say that's just a waste. >> unfortunately, the federal government has subsidized directly or indirectly not only flapjacks but grass fed cow butter, beef jerky and mushroom pizzas. after a menu like that, it is taxpayers reaching for the act acid. >> reporter: now, other projects on this list include elmo. $10 million to produce a pakistani sesame street. $120 million in retirements aboutability benefits to federal employees who have died. $30 million to help pakistani mango farmers. back here in columbia heights, people are saying that's a waste of money. the owner a year ago said this is building the community here that 95% workers live here in the community and this is an area that needs the jobs. mike, i'm going to send it back to you in the studio.

you have to ask tom coburn. i wish everybody this loved me. but i'd rather be effective representing people than popular inside washington. >> can you taste this republican nomination right now? >> i think it's -- look, remember, i was way down here and now i'm up here. i know can you go way back down here. we still have a lot of work to do. with the next four weeks in iowa, then a real rush in new hampshire then on to south carolina. and then on to florida and nevada. i mean all those are in about a month. i think if we have an interview right after nevada, we'll have a better sense of what is actually ahead. >> is it too early to say that it's yours to lose? >> well, it's either romney or mine. we're the two in the sense the two frontrunners. we're the two frontrunners. i think it's a fair thing to say without deminute r minuiminishi. we have different kinds of strengths. but romney is a very foremidable opponent. >> when obama supporters, democrats, white house officials and obama campaign officials, they say they look forward to running ag

plus, senator tom coburn releases a report highlighting $7 billion worth of government waste. the shocking story that will make you so mad you will shrug your shoulders. and the top achieving people under 30. or as i like to call them, people under 30 who make me sick. >> thank you, andy. >> happy hanukkah to you. >> i am not one of you. >> you are not? >> you are not? >> how are you on tv? >> people assume i'm in your club. >> aren't you nervous about coming out like this? >> yes, i know how powerful you are. and by you i mean all of you. >> well, i will have to bring this up at the next meeting. >> i am not surprised, but i will bring up the brochures and the fliers you made in the early 90s with ron paul. >> have a great show jie. thank you. let's welcome our guests. she is so hot she sets off fire alarms on the sun. and those are pretty powerful fire alarms, people. i am here with co-host of "the five," what is that show? weekdays at 5:00 p.m. eastern. she is so adorable, that barbie wants a veronica mosie dream house for christmas. it is veronica mosie. and all he wants f

we're talking about republican senator tom coburn from oklahoma. famous fiscal conservative out with his annual waste book. it is 100 projects he says wasted $6.5 billion of taxpayer money. now, this ihop here in columbia heights is on the list. $766,000 in taxpayer money went to local developers to revitalize this spot. this ihop opened a year ago, a 24 hour place to get pancakes, some are calling it pancakes for yuppies and some critics say blame the waste on congress. of. >> well, this is a list of shame and the ones who ought to be ashamed are not only the bureaucrats who might have misspent this money but the members of congress who are failing to oversee these programs in the first place. >> now, in terms of the controversy in this spot, some are saying this revitalization money shouldn't have gone to columbia heights. they say it has already been revitalized. we're down the street from the metro station. back in 1999, that metro stop opened up really kicked off the revitalization project in this area. on this side, we have luxury apartments.

. >> tom coburn. >> he's outspoken regardless. i'm going to give you that one. when newt came to power as speaker, we had deficit projections of $2.7 trillion. after four years, surpluses of $2.3 trillion. unemployment, 4.6%. welfare reform was accomplished. childhood poverty was decreased. two-thirds of people on welfare got jobs. this was done under a bipartisan deal. despite the chaos, the achievements speak for themselves. that's why he's doing so well among republican voters who have been watching this process and tuning into the debate. debate after debate, newt gingrich seems to be the winner. >> back when i was a speaker, i watched things that i think are wrong with him. he's got strengths. he's very smart. he brought the republicans into power. he called democratic leaders corrupt. that was the word. he likes that word corrupt. special sessions in the evening, special orders where he went after the democrats as traders, not loyal to the country. his tactics are so vicious. is every democrat you don't like corrupt? are they traders? i know the ends justi

as has current republican senator tom coburn who says newt gingrich is one of the last people he would ever vote for for president. it doesn't stop with the republican establishment. the far right shock jock radio host michael savage is offering newt gingrich $1 million if he'll drop out of the race. glenn beck has said if newt gingrich is the nominee he might vote for ron paul as a third party candidate. whether or not ron paul's running as a third party candidate, i guess. this all comes amid mixed signals, frankly, about the sustainability of newtmetum in the polls. new data showing ron paul virtually tied with newt gingrich for the lead in iowa. here's a worrisome figure for republicans in today's nbc/"wall street journal" poll when asked if they would vote for enthusiasm, newt gingrich gets 14% of voters, mitt romney down at 12%. president obama still way ahead of both of them at 25%. so people aren't exactly excited to go and vote for newt gingrich. but if it's not newt gingrich, they're left with mitt romney. who republicans really don't like. and this 2002 video clip that's goi

democratic senator kent conrad, chairman of the budget committee and republican senator tom coburn who joins us from his home in muskogee oklahoma. senator coburn you voted against extending the payroll tax cut this week. a lot have problems with it. they say it doesn't stimulate the economy. they say you are paying for a one year tax break with ten years of spending cuts and weakens the social security trust fund. question, is the gop prepared to let the payroll tax cut lapse which means a tax increase for middle class workers at the beginning of the year? >> i don't think i can speak for all of the gops. the principles that you would in fact create a tax cut and then say you are going to pay for it over ten years is exactly why we are bankrupt as a nation. and we are. people don't necessarily see that but we are. so whether or not we continue a reduction in the amount of taxes that come to social security is one thing. paying for it, we have so much waste in washington to take ten years to pay for it is ridiculous. >> chris: let me follow up for a second. a good policy or not, haven'

congressman from oklahooklahoma second district, tom coburn, md. >> i'm not inclined to be a supporter of newt gingrich having served upped him for four years and experienced personally his leadership. i found his leadership lacking. >> question, why not more of newt's congressional colleagues support his candidacy for president? >> the folks who name the best seem to like him the least. they found him to be an undisciplined, untrustworthy leader in the 90s. and the fear that if he is republican nominee, he will lead the party to a calamitous defeat in election that is very vulnerable. >> everybody in washington has a story about newt gingrich, some have 10 stories, and his republican colleagues tried to overthrow him but in this is classic confrontation between what is left of the establishment republican party and the rank and file. so you have one candidate that the rank and file doesn't like in mitt romney, and mitt romney may very well have a grass jaw, and then you have gingrich, who basically the establishment doesn't like, and he lives in a glass house. he is so vulnerable and

up next, senator tom coburn, republican from oklahoma. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] cash >> for the past few months we have examined the political lives of "the contenders," 14 men who ran for president and lost but had a lasting impact. we will talk with a history professor james baker, a real clear politics editor, and a presidential historian, to see what they learned from this series, friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. to view the episodes, go to c- span.org/thecontenders. >> today i am proud to welcome prime minister al-maliki, the elected leader of a sovereign, self reliance, and democratic iraq. we are here to mark the end of this war. to honor the sacrifices of all of those who made this day possible and to turn the page and begin a new chapter in history between our countries. in normal relationship between sovereign nations, an equal partnership based on mutual interest and mutual respect. >> as american troops prepare to leave iraq this month, look ba

(laughter) >> tom coburn, republican senator from perhaps the most republican state in the country, oklahoma. you can't even find people with blue eyes in oklahoma. (laughter) coburn is so conservative he once lodged a protest against showing "schindler's list" on tv because of the nudity. that's true. yes. the nudity. that's what strikes you as obscene in "schindler's list". will you listen to this guy. >> you know, he's been out of government for a long time. he's matured as a person. he has reattached himself to faith. >> jon: what? no, listen yourself! first of all reattached himself to his faith, like oh, you know what happened is faith just lost the stickum, you have to lick it and stick up there. the only faith gingrich has reattached himself to is beginningismism-- gingrichism, the belief in the infallibility of the gingrich this is him from last month. >> i am much like reagan and margaret thatcher, i am such an unconventional political figure that you really need to design a very unique campaign that fits the way i operate and what i am trying to do. >> jon: hey, newt, donald trump

tom coburn, senator coburn, about as conservative as you can be, the more they speak out against newt gingrich, i think, the better off he is in the republican primaries. >> explain that again, for the people watching, who may not get that. because you're enjoying the absurdity of it, but tell us what that absurdity is based on. why would somebody who's considered crazy by a true, blue conservative like tom coburn of oklahoma, be all the more enjoyable for certain people? >> you know, i do believe that this is an -- you'll remember that the tea party impulse first expressed itself as a revolt against sitting republicans. i mean, it was first, ah, so you people come to washington and you go native, and the budget goes crazy and spending goes crazy and the deficit goes crazy. i mean, that's the first -- that is the primary impulse of the tea party movement. and extending from that is this sense of throw them all out. and being a good conservative with a common sense attitude towards, for example, the possible governorship of the governance of newt gingrich in washington doesn't count fo

. >> susan molinari, tom coburn, peter king, all names familiar to you, i know. you have, in fact, praised newt gingrich along the line saying he was an inspiration to you, sort of getting you on your conservative path in politics. will the real newt gingrich stand up, which is it? is he a man who you say has some questions about his leadership or is it the guy who's been kind of a far-away mentor to you? >> he is a great teacher. that's what he is. he is a very good teacher. he was a teacher before he came into politics and he's a very bright man who has a lot of ideas. the question is, can you stay focused on those ideas, can you execute those ideas, and can you motivate the american public to be able to support those ideas. >> but does he have the temperament to be in the oval office? do you think he has the temperament to be in the oval office? >> well, i would just say, look at the experience he had as speaker and look at my experience i had when i was in leadership in the united states senate. >> and what do you think? >> three years into his -- i would jus

first, with republican senator tom coburn of oklahoma, a member tom coburn of oklahoma, a member of

it has been called out on republican senator tom coburn's 2011 waste book. a list of 100 projects around the country that some see as a waste of taxpayer dollars. >> unfortunately, the federal government has subsidized directly or indirectly, not only flapjacks but grass-fed cow butter, beef jerky and mushroom pea zas. after a menu like that, it is taxpayers who are reaching for the antacid. >> reporter: 766 thousand dollars in government revitalization money helped build the 1-year-old restaurant in the area once slated by crime and vacant lots. >>> now, it stands in a diverse neighborhood that still offers subsidized housing along with luxury apartments. a one bedroom across the street from ihop can cost as much as $2700 a month. some people have taken to calling this pancakes for yuppies. your reaction? >> i don't know about that. there are all kinds of people that eat there. >> reporter: the opening of the minority-owned ihop created 150 jobs in columbia heights. 95% of which went to d.c. residents. opinions are mixed if the project was worthy of revital

democrat kent conrad and republican tom coburn. also, newt gingrich is the new gop frontrunner. what does herman cain dropping out mean for his chances? we will ask our sunday panel where the republican campaign stands now less than a month before we hear from the voters. and our power player of the week reimagines how to choose a president. all right now on "fox news sunday." and hello again from fox news in washington. the republican presidential field was shaken up again saturday when herman cain announced after weeks of allegations about his personal life he is uss august suspendi. >> as of today with a lot of prayer and soul searching i am suspending my press presidential campaign. >> now, less than a month before voters in iowa make their choice, here is the latest poll from the des moines register. newt gingrich has moved to the front of the field with 25%. ron paul is next at 18. mitt romney at 16. followed by michele bachmann who is tied for fourth with cain at 8. but things can still change. 11% said they are uncommitted. while 60% are willing to change their mind. joi

frontrunners this year, gingrich has problems in his own party, even with fellow conservatives like tom coburn who gingrich helped sweep into congress in 1994. >> there are all types of leaders. leaders that instill confidence, leaders that are abrupt and brisk. leaders with one standard for the people they are leading and a different standard for themselves. >> reporter: brian, keep an eye on the class of 94. 70-plus republicans elected that year. so far none of the current members from that class in the house or senate have endorsed. it appears just one endorsed newt gingrich. brian? >> interesting to see how it collides with the money and organization of the romney campaign. chuck todd in our washington newsroom tonight. chuck, we'll stay at it. thanks. >>> president obama for his part threw down with congressional republicans today over extending the payroll tax cut for another year. nbc's kristen welker with us tonight was there for it. kristen, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. in what has become a familiar refrain, president obama railed against congress for its ina

chris wallace interviewing senator tom coburn. actually asked the senator if he would back newt gingrich for president? watch what happens. >> as speaker gingrich takes the lead do you have those questions about his fitness to be president? >> chris, there's a lot of candidates out there, i'm not inclined to be a supporter of newt gingrich, having served under him for four years and experienced personally his leadership. >> why is that? >> because i found it lacking, often times. >> you can see the entire interview of our own chris wallace with senator coburn, 6 p.m. eastern on the fox news channel, check your local listings. also michelle bachmann joins us chris. >>> if the race for the white house were a reality show the title would not be the apprentice but maybe the apprentice the president. some wondering if the next debate echoes a reality series because the moderator of the next one, donald trump. what is the mainstream media's reaction? liz trotta joins us every sunday at this time with her commentary. from the howard k sm