Presidential Candidate: Sam Brownback

[BornAgain23]

This is the official thread for Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and his quest for the GOP nomination.

[chronomic]

haha yes

[wrppdarndyrfngr]

yes he is indeed the extreme-right candidate. There is no way he is ever going to get nominated, he only has support from the diminishing Christian right and not the type of candidate the GOP needs now.

[Jason Tate]

Senatorlamb.

[Jason Tate]

CNN chief national correspondent John King reported on the February 13 edition (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/12/sitroom.01.html) of The Situation Room that Sen. Sam Brownback's (R-KS) message to Christian conservatives was "I've been with you all along," without noting Brownback's reported inconsistency during his political career on the issue of abortion rights. For example, in a December 18, 2006, New Republic artic (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20061218&s=scheiber121806)le (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20061218&s=scheiber121806) (subscription required), senior editor Noam Scheiber reported that Tim Golba, a former president of Kansans for Life, met with Brownback in 1994 to discuss a possible endorsement in a congressional primary but, according to Golba, Brownback said, "I think you'll find me more in line with the view of Nancy Kassebaum" -- a pro-choice Republic (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.bookrags.com/biography/nancy-kassebaum/)an (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.bookrags.com/biography/nancy-kassebaum/) then representing Kansas in the Senate.
Brownback himself has acknowledged a previous lack of clarity in his statements on the issue. On the January 28 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Brownback about his consistency on abortion rights, reading from a December 7, 2006, article (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/dec/07/change_heart/?politics) in the Lawrence (Kansas) Journal-World and an October 27, 1996, Kansas City Star article. Brownback replied: "[M]y position has become more clear, but it's not evolved. And you look at the record. Look at how I voted. ... That record is consistently pro-life. I wasn't as clear in my statements at that point in time, but he record is absolutely 100 percent." That same week, Brownback told (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/92931.aspx) Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) News, "I was in the same position in 1994 as I am today as far as being pro-life. I didn't articulate it then. I thought ... that I would be better off saying the specific areas of the issue rather than 'Are you pro-life or pro-choice?' " According to CBN News (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/93549.aspx), in response to questions about his consistency on abortion, Brownback's campaign sent out a letter to supporters that ask for "those that are capable and willing to send me a testimonial quote highlighting Senator Brownback's work on pro-life issues."
Other news reports have also suggested that Brownback changed his opinion during the 1994 primary or misled Republicans during the primary:

The December 7 Journal-World article (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/dec/07/change_heart/?politics) reported former Kansas Republican Party chairman Tim Shallenburger left a 1994 conversation "with the impression that Brownback 'was not pro-life.'" Additionally, according to the Journal-World, David Gittrich, then development director for Kansans for Life, said, "He didn't know whether he was pro-life or pro-choice."
The October 27, 1996, article in The Kansas City Star reported that Gittrich said, "When [Brownback] first ran, he took a pro-choice position." The Star added that "[e]ven when he came out clearly on the side of abortion opponents, [Brownback's primary opponent Bob] Bennie and others in that movement didn't believe it."
An October 8, 1996, Kansas City Star article reported that "[q]uestions about Brownback's abortion stance have dogged him since 1994" and that Republicans felt that Brownback "seem[ed] to favor abortion rights": "There's an awful lot of people who supported him who were very disillusioned," said Jim Braden, former speaker of the Kansas House.
Republican Linda Richter, a Kansas State University political science professor, questioned Brownback in a 1993 meeting in Manhattan. "I remember asking him one question on abortion, and I'm pro-choice, and I was satisfied with his answer," she said. "I got no feeling that he was anti-abortion."
Part of Brownback's defense in the October 8, 1996, article was "that he really didn't have a stand on abortion before [the 1994 race] because it was never an issue in his seven years as Kansas secretary of agriculture."

A September 18, 1996, article in The Hill reported that "[m]any prominent Kansas Republicans say that Brownback ... surprised them with an unexpected lurch toward the right after his 1994 primary victory." The Hill cited Dixie Roberts, an early adviser for Brownback in his 1994 congressional campaign, who said:" I feel betrayed by him. ... When he first ran for Congress in 1994, he indicated, and led many people to believe, that he was the pro-choice candidate." Additionally, former Kansas State House Speaker Jim Braden (R) said: "The impression that I had, before his 1994 primary, was that he was a moderate ... There's no question in my mind that the reason he changed is that he checked to see which way the winds were blowing, and felt that he should move to the right." King was contrasting Brownback and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) with former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) on social issues. As the Associated Press noted (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/11/ap/politics/mainD8MIQRTO1.shtml), Romney said on January 10, "I was wrong on some issues back then," referring to a 1994 Senate debate in which Romney said that "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country."
From the 4 p.m. ET hour of the February 13 edition (http://mediamatters.org/rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/12/sitroom.01.html) of CNN's The Situation Room:
WOLF BLITZER (host): He's [Romney] got some problems, though, even with that conservative base, John, of the Republican Party, because he's changed his views on several of the most sensitive social issues.
KING: And that is, Wolf, where we could see the so-called second-tier candidate -- candidates come into play here, Senator Sam Brownback, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, especially.
As the Christian conservatives put it, "has Governor Romney truly had a conversion on the road to Damascus?" Does he feel differently about abortion, does he feel differently about gay rights than he did two, four, or five years ago, or is he doing this just for politics?
They're very suspect. They do applaud his early efforts, his outreach, as [CNN senior political correspondent] Candy [Crowley] noted, meeting with ministers, meeting with activists. They say he's done a very good job of being open, to say: Ask me any question you want.
But Governor Huckabee and Senator Brownback are meeting with these same meeting, saying: You know me. I've been with you all along.

[x togepi x]

fuck sam brownback.

[senatorlamb]

The OP sounds like a nutcase, at least when he said Brownback was Jesus' candidate. But I think you guys deleted that part.

[rikfrommf]

This is the official thread for Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and his quest for the GOP nomination.

I hope he gets the nomination. (easy to beat in the general election.)

[TheOtherAndrew]

I hope he gets the nomination. (easy to beat in the general election.)
Exactly, he's all that the democrats would need to seal the presidency. The guy's out of his mind. Not in a Ted Stevens way, but close.

[mattybobviously]

I'm all about supporting Brownback, makes it that much easier to see Obama take office.

[youcomebeforeyo]

... Who?

[FallingOut]

This guy is an absolutely insane nutcase. The fact that he even thinks he has any type of shot is hilarious. Well, Bush was elected, so I guess anything ridiculous can happen.

[Daveyhavok832]

is his name brownback because he likes to have his fudge packed?

[senatorlamb]

is his name brownback because he likes to have his fudge packed?

I admit, I laughed.

[Daveyhavok832]

I admit, I laughed.
i meant no disrespect...

[atticus1492]

This is the official thread for Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and his quest for the GOP nomination.

Your profile picture is amazing. That is how I picture Jesus--on a dinosaur.

Hahaha.

[ihello]

i'd say brownback is about 20 years late for the reagan revolution. a family hour on television? really?

[kofiadrian]

i wouldn't be suprised if he gets the GOP nomination.

[captainhampton]

i wouldn't be suprised if he gets the GOP nomination.

really? have you seen the recent polls? i'm sure Rudy is scared of Brownback.

[atticus1492]

What a name. Brown. Back. It makes me giggle.

[Daveyhavok832]

i'd say brownback is about 20 years late for the reagan revolution. a family hour on television? really?
Republicans have to return to their roots, the partys just as morally corrupt as Reagan blamed the Democrats for being...

[x togepi x]

yeah because reagan wasn't corrupt or anything *cough*Iran-Contra*cough*

[Justin_stacy]

i wouldn't be suprised if he gets the GOP nomination.

he's polling between 1 and 3% with primary voters and has next to no money. He has about as much a chance of getting the nomination as that leftist nut Kucinich has at grabing the DNC ticket.

[Iamhome]

From his debate last night, I don't like him. I'm tired of the whole "I want to do things right, I want to be your president, I will make sure ______ happens and we change _____"... They have what, 30 seconds to speak? And he chooses to make it an advertisement. Debates should be there for stating opinions and fighting their beliefs - not for reassuring the public they 'want to be our president'... We already know that; that's why they're there.

[chris1152]

I had a computer class in high school with his son.

All I know is, his chances are small. I don't think I'll vote for him either, even though I'm a Christian from Kansas.

[TheBaroness]

fuck sam brownback.

Agreed

[senatorlamb]

looks like we won't be needing this anymore. I feel bad for the OP, he seems to have generally liked the guy.

:-D

[kshtoinks12]

:( RIP Brownback.

He had my vote.

[DivisionStreet]

I bet he doesn't believe in Dinosaurs.

[bossman calling]

Dinosaurs are totally a conspiracy.

[bossman calling]

I honestly don't know. The thing about Brownback is that he's just not a very strong campaigner on a nationwide level, so that probably would have done him in more than his Christian fundamentalism. However, for the most part he has the economic/fiscal/business-friendly credentials that someone like Huckabee just doesn't have.

I'd say he'd do better than Huckabee would do if he got the nomination, but still wouldn't win.

[TheOtherAndrew]

How come this is still stickied?

[IAPAI]

for real, can this be unstickied? along with Giuliani?