That clown prince of the Senate, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain — is up to his old tricks again. Not content to simply rubberstamp unfunded spending like the rest of his esteemed colleagues, Senator Coburn has blocked the extension of federal unemployment benefits. And because of this Easter Scrooge, 200,000 people this week will be without their dole.

Coburn’s ignoble defense is that the unemployment fund is only self-solvent when covering those who receive benefits for under 26 weeks. To cover those unemployed beyond that period (and, of course, no congressperson would ever deny we should — at least, not in an election year) would require the federal government to spend money it doesn’t actually have.

Not that this has ever been a problem before.

But for some reason it’s a problem with Mr. Coburn. He insists not that we shouldn’t pay these people benefits they are not entitled to receive (for he, too, faces an election soon), but says that the new expense should be offset with an equal amount of spending cuts.

Spending cuts? In an election year?

Earth to Coburn. Come in, Coburn. Are you there, Coburn?

Equally ignoble was Coburn’s feckless offer to work through the two-week congressional recess to find a solution to this impasse.

Does he not realize that there are yachts to ride, villas to visit — polo ponies to mount? Does he really expect our representatives to abandon these duties just so a few hundred thousand people can put some food on the table?

Not even in an election year, sirrah!

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