Senator Tom Coburn May Step Down As He Battles Cancer

With all the Bridgegate news yesterday, this slipped under the radar of most mainstream news outlets:

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who is currently undergoing chemotherapy to treat recurrent prostate cancer, acknowledged in an interview published Thursday in Politico that his health problems may force him to cut his time in the Senate short.

Coburn had a first bout with prostate cancer in 2011, and he battled melanoma and colon cancer before that. He has already said he wouldn’t run for reelection in 2016, but when he receives test results in February that will determine the size of the tumor and the most appropriate treatment, he should have a better read on whether he can finish his term in the Senate, he told Politico.

“I’m a straight shooter. When I get ready to make a decision on what I’m going to do, I’m going to put it out there,” he said. “The decision I make will be made in conjunction with my family as to how I can best implement and impact things. And if I don’t think I can, I won’t.”

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.