Black Box Report

Nothing's worse in Washington than a hypocrite. The moral authorities with a secret life on the side or their hand in the cookie jar - we've certainly had our share of these creeps lately. But hypocrisy can be just as bad when it comes to a voting record.

Senator Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma is Exhibit A. While he's a big supporter of the president's domestic spying program, he's also a big critic of anyone who isn't calling Democrats weak on terror - or even enabling the enemy.

While I think he's an idiot, he's also inconsistent as they come. Privacy matters for Tom Coburn - when it comes to guns. Yesterday the parents of the Virginia Tech victims were in Washington begging lawmakers to close a loophole that allowed a diagnosed deranged madman from buying firearms. It turns out they had a receptive audience. Almost every lawmaker of both parties, the gun lobby and even the NRA supports the measure. Only one person, our hero from Oklahoma, stands in its way. Senator Coburn, it turns out, has privacy concerns that some gun owner may be denied purchase because they’re on a list.

A federal firearms watch list, of course, is not an undue burden on our privacy. But for a guy who once wanted a public registry of anyone with HIV, let alone a blank check for this president to our phone records - let's just say this phony should keep his privacy concerns private.