Sam Brownback, GOP Senator from Kansas, is by most folks’ reckoning a hardcore religious conservative. He enjoyed strong social conservative support in the last presidential election cycle. But it’s a sign of the ultimate weakness of the Single Issue Bright Moral Line Unwavering Faith Right that, in one act, he’s suddenly becomes their bête noire.
Brownback ‘throwing the unborn under the bus’ (OneNewsNow.com)
Kansas Republican Senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts issued a joint statement congratulating [Kansas Governor Kathleen] Sebelius on her HHS nomination, saying they “look forward to working with her on issues important to the state.” Sebelius is a Catholic who says she personally believes abortion is wrong, yet has opposed restrictions on late-term abortions and is a friend and defender of notorious Wichita abortionist George Tiller.
Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics, Incorporated, says Brownback — a self-professed pro-life Catholic — “abandoned” the unborn by backing Sebelius.
Crutcher says Brownback’s desire to become the next governor of Kansas may be driving his support of Sebelius. “All of Brownback’s flowery words in the past don’t really mean much,” he says. “When push comes to shove, he’ll throw the unborn under the bus for some political advantage — and that’s what’s happened here.”In addition, Crutcher says the pro-life movement has been “stabbed in the back by people like Sam Brownback so many times” that the movement should have learned the lesson that the measure of a pro-life lawmaker is not what he tells you he believes, but rather what he will do to protect the life of the unborn.
When you’re a single issue voter, any deviation from the One True Ideology is the sign that you’re a monster. Never mind that abortions have actually gone down in Kansas while Sebelius has been governor, or that Sebelius at HHS removes any chance of the “baby-killing” Dems picking up a Senate seat in Kansas next cycle (when Brownback has said he will step down). Never mind that Brownback’s been a staunch anti-abortion crusader until now (with a 0% rating from NARAL). Heck, never mind that he sees the advantage of having a Kansan in the Administration (and of maintaining polite ties with her).
Nope. Unless Brownback’s personally willing to throw a bucket of cow’s blood over Sebelius’ head and lead the charge to not only block her nomination but ride her out of town on a rail, he’s suddenly a slimy pol, stabbing his supporters in the back and now personally responsible for every abortion that ever takes place in the United States.
If you keep kicking people out of your movement for not bouncing their rubber balls in time with you, you only hurt your cause over the long haul. Fear of condemnation can only keep folks in line for so long; if you turn on even your closest friends when you don’t fully agree with them, pretty soon you won’t have any friends at all.