Quotes of the Morning: Body Language

“Its good to see that John Roberts is dealing with some tough grilling in his nomination to the Supreme Court.”
-Skippy

“I just have one other comment. As you have been before our committee, I’ve tried to use my medical skills of observation of body language to ascertain your uncomfortableness and ill at ease with questions and responses.
And I’ve honed that over about 23, 24 years. And the other thing that I believe is integrity is at the basis of what we want in judges .
And I will tell you that I am very pleased, both in my observational capabilities as a physician to know that your answers have been honest and forthright as I watch the rest of your body respond to the stress that you’re under. But I’m also pleased with our president that he’s had the wisdom to pick somebody of such stature and such integrity.”
-Senator Tom Coburn, September 14, 2005

“I wonder if Senator Coburn’s medical power of observation is as good as that of his co-workers? (And how exactly do ‘medical skills of observation’ work? Is it anything like Superman’s x-ray vision?)”
-Skippy

“Some Democrats and doctors criticized [Senator Bill] Frist's March 17 Senate speech in which he said he was commenting on Schiavo's highly publicized case ‘more as a physician than as a United States senator.’
In that speech, Frist said he had reviewed videotapes of Schiavo and noted that her brother ‘said that she responds to her parents and to him. That is not somebody in persistent vegetative state. . . . There just seems to be insufficient information to conclude that Terri Schiavo is [in a] persistent vegetative state.’
‘I question it based on a review of the video footage, which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office here in the Capitol,’ Frist said in the speech. He said his comments were also partly based on a conversation with one of several neurologists who had evaluated Schiavo.”
-Washington Post, June 15, 2005

“Of course, this is the same Tom Coburn whose medical experience also apparently gives him a finer appreciation of women’s breasts.”
-Skippy

“Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), a new member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was at last week's meeting on a bill restricting class-action suits. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I immediately thought about slicone breast implants and the legal wrangling and the class-action suits off that. And I thought I would just share with you what science says today about silicone breast implants. If you have them, you're healthier than if you don't. That is what the ultimate science shows...In fact, there's no science that shows that silicone breast implants are detrimental and, in fact, they make you healthier.’"
-Washington Post, February 7, 2004

“Of course, Coburn’s thoughts on those Americans who aren’t interested in breasts quite so much is slightly different..”
-Skippy

"The gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power. ... That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today. Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That's a gay agenda.'"
–Dr. Tom Coburn, 2004

“There’s a lot of that kind of thinking going around his office though.”
-Skippy

““Michael Schwartz must have thought I was just another attendee of the ‘Confronting the Judicial War on Faith’ conference. I approached the chief of staff of Oklahoma's GOP Senator Tom Coburn outside the conference in downtown Washington last Thursday afternoon after he spoke there. Before I could introduce myself, he turned to me and another observer with a crooked smile and exclaimed, ‘I'm a radical! I'm a real extremist. I don't want to impeach judges. I want to impale them!’"
-Max Blumenthal, The Nation, April 11, 2005

“Yep, just the kind of guy to help ensure a moderate, well balanced Supreme Court.”
-Skippy