Sen. Tom Coburn Is Fine With Torture Executions

As a physician, you’d think he’d know better. From this morning’s appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

The Oklahoma senator and physician was… asked whether a botched execution this week in his home state changed his view on the death penalty. Gov. Mary Fallin (R) ordered a review of the state’s execution procedures in the wake of the incident, in which an inmate died of a heart attack 43 minutes after his execution began.

“I’d say I’ve given it a lot of thought. I still think it has a deterrent capability,” Coburn said of the death penalty. “I don’t like it. I wish we put everybody that had such a history as this gentleman behind bars, working and doing things that would help them. But I haven’t changed my position.”

Coburn said statistics don’t bear out the perception that executions are frequently botched.

“It’s an unfortunate thing, but any time you’re doing something with a body, things can go wrong,” he said. “This leads to the discussion about the death penalty and whether or not that in and of itself is appropriate and then whether you can do that humanely.”

Okay, so, humane executions are a good idea, but if they turn into torture-to-death sessions, oops and shit happens. Gotcha, Tom!

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.