Jeff Sharlet, an expert on the religious right, has a
profile of Senator Sam Brownback in this week's edition of Rolling Stone. A quote from the article to start us off:
Brownback's wife, Mary, heiress to a Midwest newspaper fortune, married Sam during her final year of law school and boasts that she has never worked outside the home. "Basically," she says, "I live in the kitchen." From her spot by the stove, Mary monitors all media consumed by her kids. The Brownbacks block several channels, but even so, innuendos slip by, she says, and the nightly news is often "too sexual." The children, Mary says, "exude their faith." The oldest kids "opt out" of sex education at school.
Oh there is more
We all know that Brownback is a bit crazy. He is the one who is
pushing the Anti-Gay Marriage Constitutional Amendment in the Senate and also the one who has been
threatening Washington DC over their rolerant stance to gay and lesbian couples.
While he relies on the bible for justification, he picks and choses what to believe:
Homosexuality may not be sanctioned by the Bible, but slavery is -- by Old and New Testaments alike. Brownback thinks slavery is wrong, of course, but the Bible never is. How does he square the two? "I've wondered on that very issue," he says. He tentatively suggests that the Bible views slavery as a "person-to-person relationship," something to be worked out beyond the intrusion of government. But he quickly abandons the argument; calling slavery a personal choice, after all, is awkward for a man who often compares slavery to abortion.
If this hasn't whet your appetite enough, I'll leave you with one more choice quotation from the comprehensive story:
Over the last six decades, Bredesen has prayed with so many presidents and prime ministers and kings that he can barely remember their names...
"He wants to be president," Bredesen tells the congregation. "He is marvelously qualified to be president." But, he adds, there is something Brownback wants even more: "And that is, on the last day of your earthly life, to be able to say, 'Father, the work you gave me to do, I have accomplished!'" Bredesen, shrunken with age, leans forward and glares at Brownback.
"Is that true?" he demands.
"Yes," Brownback says softly.
"Friends!" The old man's voice is suddenly a trumpet. "Sam . . . says . . . yes!"
The crowd roars. Those occupying the front rows lay hands on the contender.
Brownback takes the stage. He begins to pace. In front of secular audiences he's a politician, stiff and wonky. Here, he's a preacher, not sweaty but smooth, working a call-and-response with the back rows. "I used to run on Sam power," he says.
"Uh-uh," someone shouts.
To quiet his ambition, Brownback continues, he used to take sleeping pills.
"Oh, Lord!"
Now he runs on God power.
"Hallelujah!"
For all the latest news on Brownback's political moves and ambitions, have a look at the Anti Sam Brownback Blog. Lovingly cared for by your's truly for almost a year.