The Anti-Sam Brownback Blog

So I stole the headline from the McClatchy lead in this good story about Brownback’s Buddy, anti-condom Tom Monaghan. I previously mentioned his Ave Maria boondoggle down in the Florida Swamps, but this piece is a good catch-up for those not in the know.

The challenge still stands! Who will be the first reporter (or blogger) to ask Sam Brownback: “Do you agree with your close adviser Tom Monaghan that all contraceptives should be banned?”

Good ‘ole Tom Monaghan. If the name of one of Brownback’s senior advisers seems familiar, think “30 minutes or it’s free” or “Get the door, it’s Domino’s!”. Yep, the billionaire that once owned Domino’s pizza is also an extreme evangelical Catholic and thus a fervent Brownback supporter.

You might have heard Monaghan’s name in the news recently regarding the university he is building in the middle of the Florida swamps. Ave Maria will be a planned community around the Catholic University of the same name. That, however, is not what made the news. A huge uproar occurred when it was reported that Monaghan will not allow any form of contraceptives to be sold in his town.

• No Condoms
• No Hormonal Birth Control
• No Spermicidal Gels

Kudos to the first reporter who asks Brownback, “Do you agree with your close adviser Tom Monaghan that all contraceptives should be banned?”

If Brownback has advisers like this now, imagine what his cabinet could be like in 2 years…

As part of my service to society, I subscribe to a number of unsavory email lists. One of them is the James Dobson founded Focus on the Family’s “CitizenLink”. This particular email condenses the day’s news and filters it through a conservative lens.

With Senator Brownback being a staunch religious conservative, I thought his presidential announcement would have been front and center on this evening’s email. However, there is nary a mention of him or his announced quest to become President. Has Focus on the Family forgotten on of their most loyal supporters in Congress? Perhaps they have already pledged their support to another candidate who is more electable. Or maybe they just think he is crazy.

As of tonight, the CitizenLink website also has no mention of Brownback.

While I missed this during the madness of last week’s final exams, I should note that Senator Sam Brownback’s broadcast indecency bill passed with unanimous consent.

This bill will mandate a tenfold inrease for fines levied by the FCC for indecent content broadcast by networks.

This bill still needs to be reconciled with a harsher House bill that would also levie fines on the performers or actors that made the indecent remark or act.

A dirty little secret of the republican party leadership is that many of them see Christian Conservatives as a distasteful, uneducated and uncouth constituency. The party leadership uses them during election season and then brushes them aside when it comes to making policy. The New York Times reports today that some Conservative Christian leaders are none too happy about this trend and are considering sitting out this fall’s midterm election:

“There is a growing feeling among conservatives that the only way to cure the problem is for Republicans to lose the Congressional elections this fall,” said Richard Viguerie, a conservative direct-mail pioneer.

“I can’t tell you how much anger there is at the Republican leadership,” Mr. Viguerie said. “I have never seen anything like it.”

What will the GOP leadership do? It’s anyone’s guess.

However, it is exactly this sort of anger and disaffection that Senator Sam Brownback is attempting to tap into for a presidential run in 2008. I may think Brownback is crazy and dangerous, but I have never doubted his religious convictions. Brownback is a true believer, and for better or worse, generally speaks his mind.

The Christian right could be looking for such a chosen son in 2008 if they are not sufficiently wooed by the GOP this cycle…

Senator Sam Brownback will speak tomorrow at the “War on Christians” conference that begins today in Washington DC.  The conference organizer described it as:

“This conference is the first to explore every aspect of the War on Christians. But we won’t just complain. We’ll offer a strategy for Christians to fight back and ultimately win the culture war and reclaim America.”

Scarborough continued: “The Republican Party often takes the Values Vote for granted. They court us as elections approach and forget us as soon as they’re over. And we fall into line. Well, I’m here to tell you that those days are rapidly drawing to a close.”

Also of note is that they appear to be planning a 2008 straw poll.  Maybe Brownback can pull more than the 1.5 percent he drew at the SRLC.

More details tomorrow after his speach.

Senator Sam Brownback will be a featured speaker at Vision America’s “War on Christians” conference:

Conference convener Vision America says “The War On Christians And The Values Voter in 2006″ will be the first “to consider the savage and accelerating” attacks by groups such as the ACLU and Anti-Defamation League.

“During the past Christmas season, the airwaves were abuzz with talk of the war on Christmas,” said Don Feder, a former syndicated columnist and the spokesman for the event. “Yet efforts to purge Christmas from the culture are but one aspect of a coordinated campaign against Bible-believing Christians.”

What a sob story. Have a look at the topics for the conference:

Panels Include:
The Gay Agenda: America Won’t Be Happy
The ACLU And Radical Secularism: Driving God From The Public Square
Hollywood: Christians Through A Distorted Lens
Jews Confront The War On Christians
The Judiciary: Overruling God
The Media: Megaphone For Anti-Faith Values
Taking Our Faith To The Ballot Box

Overruling God? What will they come up with next? I could rant for a while on how Christians have the most accommodations of any religious group in our society, but I don’t have the energy. Suffice it to say that Brownback is pandering to the farthest right of the GOP base. As one of my republican friends told me today, “I wouldn’t be caught near those nuts.”

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.

Senator Sam Brownback’s NPR appearance is now available online.  Click on the “Listen” button located near the top of the story page.

Nothing too spectacular in there.  Brownback compared abortion to slavery and denied being interested in a Christian Theocracy in the United States.  He predicted when Roe v. Wade is overturned (he sounded pretty confident) abortion will become a state issue and will be outlawed in many places.

There was no questioning of his stance on Stem Cells and no mention of the theocracy minded group that he is a part of (The Fellowship).

In all, much more sympathetic than the Rolling Stone article.  For many people this was probably their introduction to Sam Brownback the presidential candidate.