Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback unleashed his first attack of the 2008 presidential campaign Tuesday, skewering the campaign of fellow Republican Mitt Romney for claiming Brownback once supported abortion rights.
Brownback, a leading social conservative who hopes to position himself as the favored candidate of that wing of the Republican party, accused Romney’s campaign of sending a misleading e-mail to pro-life activists in Michigan.
“Just like Sam Brownback, Mitt was once pro-choice but changed his views upon being elected to office,” wrote Stefani Zimmerman, a regional field director in Michigan for Romney. “Sam Brownback used to identify himself with Nancy Kassebaum and rebuffed being pro-life when he first ran for office. Kassebaum was a prominent GOP senator that was known for being pro-choice. When Brownback was elected to office, that is when he also had a conversion and voted with the pro-life movement. The same is true for Mitt Romney.”
Rob Wasinger, Brownback’s campaign manager, called Zimmerman’s comparison of the two “absurd.”
“Mitt Romney’s flip-flops are enough to make John Kerry blush,” Wasinger said.
Posted by Matt Stearns
So what's the truth here? Did Sam ever support abortion rights?
Posted by: | February 13, 2007 at 04:51 PM
Sam the Sham most definitely associated himself with Nancy Landon Kassebaum when he was running for Congress in 1994. The important thing to remember is he only brought up Kassebaum's name when he was giving a non-answer answer to people who asked him about the abortion rights issue.
After he was elected to the Gingrich Congress, Brownback came out more overtly on the abortion-abolitionist side of the issue. Part of Gingrich's success in the 1990s was his realization that evangelical conservatives provided the margin of victory for the Republic Party.
Let's not even get into Sam's denouncing the Methodist church and converting -- due to the influence of inside-the-beltway people like Bob Novak -- to Opus Dei Catholicism.
The irony is that Sambo just might have run away from his personal beliefs in 1994, implying that he wasn't an abortion-abolitionist when he thought it would suit his election prospects, but embraced the anti-choice movement as soon as polling indicated it would work for him in the Republic Party.
What we're seeing vis a vis Mitt Romney is just how low so-called religious-based Republics will go to attack others. Romney's a teed-up target of traditional evangelical conservatives; they *hate* Mormons.
The mud-slinging's just beginning.
Posted by: MonkeyHawk | February 13, 2007 at 05:32 PM
Thanks, Monkey Hawk. The bright young man who thinks he can swing either way.
Opus Dei is all I need to know.
Appreciate your time.
Posted by: | February 13, 2007 at 08:45 PM
I like Sam he's the man. I certianly don't want Rudy or Johnny
Posted by: JR | February 13, 2007 at 11:33 PM