Tom Coburn: Harry Reid Is 'an Absolute A--hole'

Comment ignites war of words
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 30, 2013 6:28 AM CDT
Tom Coburn: Harry Reid Is 'an Absolute A--hole'
Sen. Tom Coburn walks toward the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

So much for playing nice in the Senate sandbox: At a New York Young Republican Club gala on Monday, Tom Coburn reportedly trash-talked Harry Reid. When asked about his relations with opponents in the Senate, the Republican senator replied that some Democrats are easier to get along with than others. "I have great relationships with Chuck Schumer. I don't say that in Oklahoma," he said, per the New York Daily News. "There's no comity with Harry Reid. I think he's an absolute a--hole." Since his remarks went public, Coburn says he wants to meet with the Senate majority leader to smooth things over, reports the Hill.

But Reid, who came out of the recent debt ceiling brawl looking like something of a bulldog, might not be so keen."Nothing says ‘comity’ like childish playground name-calling," his spokesman, Adam Jentleson, hit back with in a statement, "especially from a senator who has not sponsored a single piece of successful bipartisan legislation during his entire Senate career." Not to be outdone, Coburn's spokesman responded with: "Adam’s opportunistic, and factually challenged, faux outrage shows why these conversations are best left at the member level." (More Tom Coburn stories.)

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