The Anti-Sam Brownback Blog

In a nice wrapup of recent events involving Senator Sam Brownback, Kansas City Star political writer Steve Kraske ends with a quote from an unnamed aide to Brownback:

Saying that this brand of conservatism will propel Brownback to the White House may be a stretch. “Like him or not,” an aide said Friday, “he definitely is charting his own path.”

I have been talking to many political analysts and consultants on both sides of the aisle and this does seem to be the general consensus. The model Brownback has chosen for his presidential campaign is unique and has not been tested. Mixing social conservatism with international humanitarian intervention and a healthy dose of faith based initiatives is a platform not seen before.

Based off of his dismal fundraising numbers last year, more and more I see him in the mold of a weird conservative Dennis Kucinich. Sure, the guy had spunk and grand ideas but no one bought it. He may have been ideologically rich, but he was cash poor.

What do you think? Does Brownback’s inventive message have a chance to bring in the money it would take to be a contender?

At least according to the National Journal. (pdf)
Not exactly a surprise to people who are paying attention to Brownback’s nonstop litanty of intolerance and fear mongering. He knows his core supporters are the most extreme of his party, and he is working them for all they are worth.

At this point, almost 3 years out, Brownback has to continue his pandering to the religious right. Senator George Allen, also included in the rankings (79.7) is threatening to take away most of Brownback’s support from the religious base. Allen has the advantage of not appearing to be a stark raving lunatic when speaking about abortion and gay marriage. While his message is very close to Brownback’s, bis delivery comes off much less extreme. Additionally, Allen’s fundraising has been going gangbuster compared to Brownback’s weak effort.

Brownback has the street cred with the anti-abortion / dominionist wing of the republian party. The real question is whether he can expand that base of support beyond the whacko right. Personally, I don’t think he is up to it.

One more interesting but about the rankings. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was also on the list of Presidential hopefuls. What a joke. The guy couldn’t lead himself out of a wet paper bag. While I appreciate his ineptitude, I can’t imagine the GOP would give him a chance in 2008. His chances are nil at this point.

Senator Sam Brownback will be the featured speaker tomorrow night at the Arizona Right to Life annual benefit gala and silent auction.

This continues his strategy of recruitment and fundraising around the country focused on the anti-abortion movement.  His task at these events is not to convince those in attendance of his anti-abortion bonafides, those are already secured.  Rather, he needs to convince them that he is a viable candidate nationally.

This question of viability is crucial to opening checkbooks beyond the farthest religious fringe of the right.  These people already love him, they now require convincing that he will not be the Dennis Kucinich of the right.

As you probably have noticed, I now have Anti Brownback T Shirts and other assorted goodies for sale.  I was going to wait to reveal these until the one year anniversary of the blog (March 31st) but after some recent inquiries I decided to go live now.

There is currently one design in the shop on multiple items of clothing.  If you have other design ideas I would love to hear them.  You would, of course, get a free shirt if I chose to use your design.

Get it here.

Frankly, I’m not impressed.  He has been testing several of these themes over the past few months and this just ties them all together.  He droned on an on about Reagan and times past, but never bother to mention the deficits Reagan ran up that we are still ignoring.  My generation is going to have to pay for that, and we aren’t happy about it.

The one part of the speech I did find interesting was his introduction about the afro pictured above and to the left on this site.  He mentioned it has been making the rounds, and that he regrets his choice of hairstyle.  I’m happy to assist.

Hat tip to a questioner at the Landon Lecture (more on the lecture later).

In last year’s budget, Senator Sam Brownback earmarked $200,000 for a private Christian Ministry Ranch that openly excludes non-Christians.  From Morningstar Ranch’s own website:

In response to Matthew 28: 18-20, the Ranch serves inner cities by providing camping opportunities for children and youth. The primary goals of the camps are relationship building, evangelism, spiritual growth, and wholesome fun. To share the Ranch’s heart for inner cities, its facilities are made available to all followers of Christ. 

Remember, this is federal money.  Don’t believe Brownback when he claims not to be a theocrat.  Funneling tax dollars to a facility that discriminates against people of other faiths is in gross violation of the principle of church and state.

In an interview with Christianity Today, Senator Sam Brownback presented his plan for reducing poverty in the United States:

I voted in favor of the budget resolution [that included the cuts on medicare and food stamps]. I think we have to control our spending, and we have a moral obligation to balance our budget and not overly burden future generations.

We need to pursue policies that encourage people to get married, to get a job, to not have children out of wedlock. If people do those three things, very few end up in poverty.

Thus Jesus Spoketh to them, “Blessed are they who cut food stamps. For let the poor starve if they havest children. The kingdom of heaven is reserved for those who balance budgets.”

Government incentives for marriage will not fix the problem of poverty. Penalizing a woman for escaping a marriage with an abusive spouse is about the most immoral ideas I have ever heard.

According to The Hill, Senator Sam Brownback will be spending the President’s Day break jetting around the nations to high dollar fundraisers:

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), expected to vie for the conservative base in the 2008 Republican primary, is raising money and meeting conservative leaders in three states. He is scheduled in Houston to attend fundraisers, policy meetings and meet-and-greet events and in Atlanta to take in party functions, a Georgia Right to Life event and a fundraiser. He will also attend a fundraiser for local leaders in Arizona, according to an aide. On top of his packed schedule, Brownback is slated to give the keynote address at an Arizona Right to Life dinner.

Here lies the peril of being a Senator and vying for the presidency at the same time. He doesn’t have time to spend in Kansas. Brownback’s fundraising woes are such that he needs to make the rounds, and quick.

Lest we forget, he is not running for Senate again. In the next few years Brownback will try to leave Kansas in his dust.

MMMmmmm.  Manimals.  Josh over at Thoughts from Kansas has an excellent discussion of Senate Bill S 1373 which would ban the creation of human - animal chimeras.

Properly speaking, a chimera is a mixture of cells from two sources. CSI fans will remember a case in which a man had two genetically distinct sets of cells in his body, so a DNA test wrongly excluded him as a suspect. That’s a naturally forming human-human chimera (strictly a mosaic, but let’s not get too caught up in terminology). For research purposes, one can put cells from one species (say a sheep) into the embryo of another (say a goat). The product will look like the little cutey right here, a so-called “geep.”

Scientists use these chimeras to study the development of mammals, improving our understanding of our own growth and development, as well as that of commercially important species.

Since Josh is the biologist, I will defer to his knowledge.  Go read his post.