Judie Brown

In yesterday’s round-up we mentioned that American Life League President Judie Brown had declared that, due to Sen. Sam Brownback's support of Kathleen Sebelius' nomination to become Secretary of Health and Human Services, he had lost the right to ever be called “pro-life” again.

And Brown is not alone in calling out Brownback from apparently squandering his pro-life credentials by backing Sebelius – Jill Stanek piles on as well, blasting him for being apparently unconcerned about what sort of “damage this abortion lover” will do to the country:  

That some pro-lifers don't understand the harm done is also disturbing … Brownback thinks he needs to move to the middle if he's going to get the keys to the governor's mansion in 2010.

But here is where Brownback in particular made a common pro-life politician's mistake, which too many pro-lifers accept: Casting dreams for what he could do for us tomorrow, Brownback didn't do the right thing today.

I don't care what pro-life politicians promise they will do for me tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. I only care what they do for me today. In fact, they're only where they are today because they cast dreams in a previous campaign to do something for me today.

Now to the damage this abortion lover could do as HHS secretary.

Operation Rescue is likewise livid:

"It is unimaginable that a Catholic pro-lifer such as Sen. Brownback would support Sebelius' nomination to a post where she can advance her extremist abortion agenda on the national level. There is so much documentation of her ardent support of indicted late-term abortionist George Tiller that is hard to believe that the Senator from Kansas is simply ignorant of her record. We pray that Mr. Martin's information is in error," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

"We at Operation Rescue are urging our supporters to contact Sen. Brownback's office and ask for confirmation on this story," said Newman. "Our own calls to his office have been met with equivocation. We believe that the people have a right to know the truth on where the Senator stands."

[An interesting side-note: Human Life International rips into Catholic United for backing Sebelius, asking if “the word 'integrity' means to these self-proclaimed 'faithful Catholics’” but says not a word about Brownback, who is also Catholic.]

But the Family Research Council is not so much concerned with Brownback’s failure to oppose her as it is with the entire Republican Party’s failure to stand up for the pro-life agenda by sinking her nomination:

The biggest example of this divide between conservatives and the GOP may be found in President Obama's pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). With the exception so far of Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), the nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kans.)--arguably the most pro-abortion governor in the nation -- has been met by the Republican leadership with a collective yawn. Here is a woman who aligns herself against 80% of the country in suggesting that the government knows better than parents in children's health decisions, and yet the GOP can't muster the will to fight her nomination. As governor, she hosted a private reception for a notorious partial-birth abortionist, vetoed bills that would have made abortion clinics cleaner for women, and blocked court reforms that would have helped to prevent third-term abortions. Like President Obama, she even opposed protection for infants who are born alive during an abortion.

If Republicans won't take a stand now, when will they? Once Sebelius is confirmed, she will control the largest government agency in America with more power and resources to advance a radical social agenda that will drive a deeper wedge between parents and their children. Grassroots conservatives understand what's at stake here. Why doesn't the Republican leadership?

There is nothing that seems to anger the Religious Right quite like discussions of faith within the political sphere that do not coincide with their own right-wing agenda.  For example, Ryan Anderson of First Things attacked Catholics United for taking “its favored policy and baptize it in the name of the church” regarding the debate over SCHIP while Religious Right leaders were up-in-arms and accusing Democrats of “[hijacking] the language of faith in order to hide the truth about their real agenda” and confuse Values Voters.  Barack Obama’s Christian faith, in particular, has come in for intense denunciation, being labeled “woefully deficient” while his church membership “suggests a lack of judgment.”   

And now American Life League president Judie Brown has decided to add her voice to the chorus of those who think religion is solely the property of the Right:  

"It is one thing to profess to be a believing Christian, and another to, by your actions, either confirm that you are indeed a believing Christian, or that you are using your so-called Christianity for the purpose of political gain," says Brown.

Brown says that in many cases -- such as Obama's and Clinton's -- she sees politicians "using their professed Christianity for political ends, without even recognizing what it means to be a Christian, and I find that rather sad."

Rather sad, indeed.