Posts on Kansas

Raw Story highlights the recent CNN piece on a Kansas pastors who has posted a rather provocative sign outside his church:

CNN's Rick Sanchez reported on a church marquee that reads "America we have a Muslim president. This is a sin against the Lord." Mark Holick is pastor of The Spirit One Christian Center in Wichita, Kansas where the sign is being displayed.

Holick told KSNW, "The main point of the marquee is to cause the Christians to understand he is not a Christian, Again, they will call me and they will tell me that he's not a Muslim because he is a Christian. That's not the point. The point is he's not a Christian."

The idea that Obama is not a Christian has become commonplace among many on the Right, as has the idea that it is perfectly acceptable to attack him because of his faith and that a voting for him was a sin. But this is the first time I’ve seen anyone argue that his understanding of his Christian faith actually makes him a Muslim.  

If the point that Holick wanted to make is that Obama is not a Christian, why didn’t he just say that instead of saying that Obama is a Muslim? That doesn’t even make any sense.

Back when Vision America’s Rick Scarborough first announced his bold “70 Weeks to Save America” tour, the goal was to with the goal of sign up “100,000 Values Voters, 10,000 key leaders, 5,000 Patriot Pastors and 5,000 women” to “vote their Christian values on Election Day 2008.”  Since then, its messaging has been, at best, confusing and its efforts to rally supporters have repeatedly run into problems, especially once his partner in the endeavor, Alan Keyes, decided to run for president.  

But Scarborough has forged ahead, apparently opening new chapters of Vision America in New Mexico and Kansas and planning scaled-down “One Day Crusades” in both states.  In fact, Scarborough was just in Kansas yesterday for one of his events where Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline was the featured speaker.  In fact, helping Kline in his primary re-election bid next week seems to have been the primary reason for the event

Scarborough said the first thing the Kansas City media has been asking him is, Why is he here?

“The reason I am here is because of Phill Kline,” Scarborough told the audience. “It’s the only reason I’m here.”

Kline is seeking a four-year term as district attorney. On Aug. 5, he faces former Johnson County prosecutor Steve Howe in the GOP primary.

Of course, even though the event was held explicitly for Klein and just one week before his primary election, Scarborough insists that the event was entirely nonpartisan:

Scarborough wasn’t here to endorse Kline, however.  As a non-profit, Vision America would run afoul of IRS rules if he did so.

He was here as part of the group’s mission to encourage pastors to be pro-active in restoring Judeo-Christian values in communities across the nation.

But apparently, local pastors weren’t buying Scarborough’s assurances and wisely stayed away in droves:

Scarborough said he checked with his lawyers in advance and was told that there would be no problem with Kline “sharing his faith” at those meetings.

However, the idea of it “apparently scared the pants” off the pastors, Scarborough said. The attendance rate of the pastors was the lowest the group has seen, he said.

Phill Kline has been something of a right-wing cause célèbre ever since he used his position as Attorney General in Kansas to launch a one-man crusade against Planned Parenthood and subpoena "records of more than 80 women and girls who received abortions in 2003 at two clinics" in the state, ostensibly in a "search for evidence of illegal late-term abortions and child rape."

As it turned out, it was his obsession with abortion that did him in when he was up for re-election in 2006 when he lost his position to Paul Morrison. But then, in an odd twist, the Johnson County Republican Party's precinct leaders elected him to finish out the remainder of Morrison's term as Johnson Country Attorney General and now he is running for re-election, even though he hasn't been particularly keen on actually showing up for work.

And now the Kansas City Star reports that Klein is scheduled to join Rick Scarborough at one of his one-day "Crusade to Save America" events on July 28th in Overland Park - and Scarborough is insisting that this is not election-related at all:

A conservative organization based in Texas is reaching out to pastors and their churches in Johnson County before the upcoming Aug. 5 primary.

The Rev. Rick Scarborough, who founded Vision America, said this week that his group would not be endorsing any candidate. But Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, who is seeking a full four-year term, is expected to share his faith at three of four events set up for clergy and at a public rally July 28, Scarborough said.

Scarborough said Kline would appear not as a candidate but as district attorney.

“We can’t endorse a candidate and don’t, but we do hope people will vote not as Republicans or Democrats but as followers of Christ,” Scarborough said. “We try to get Christians to vote their biblical values.”

...

Kline has been “forewarned and carefully advised” that nothing will be said about his candidacy, Scarborough said.

“Legally, any elected official can come to an event and discuss his faith,” Scarborough said. Kline also is expected to provide an update to his constituents on his criminal case against Planned Parenthood’s clinic in Overland Park, where abortions are performed.

Not too long ago, James Dobson personally endorsed Kline's re-election bid and Scarborough even invited Dobson to participate in the event, but it looks like even James Dobson has enough sense to avoid being seen in public with the likes of these two right-wing zealots:

Organizers had hoped that James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, would speak at the rally, but a spokesman with the group said he would not be able to attend.

In September, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that Sen. David Vitter inserted an earmark into the federal budget to provide $100,000 to the Louisiana Family Forum, a Focus on the Family affiliate, apparently for the purpose of combating the teaching of evolution and global warming in public schools. Now the Kansas City Star is raising questions about whether earmarks from Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and Kit Bond (R-Missouri) are going to religious purposes:

Sens. Sam Brownback and Kit Bond used earmarks last year to direct about $1 million to an area group "empowering the un-churched urban poor for the kingdom of Christ."

On the surface, the taxpayer-supported appropriations for World Impact Inc. raise constitutional questions about the separation of church and state.

… Brownback, a Kansas Republican, and Bond, a Missouri Republican, note that World Impact does a lot of good for the urban poor in the region, with wanting to create an outreach and education center in St. Louis and running a ranch in central Kansas that is used as a "Christian training center for inner-city young men ages 18-25."

World Impact operates programs in several other states and received nearly $2 million in earmarks in the 2008 spending bill, according to a report last fall in Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.

While recent rule changes have made the earmarking process a little more open, there is still far less scrutiny than to budget items that have been debated or the Bush administration’s own faith-based efforts. Still, the president of the World Impact charity assures us that “We are faith-based, but federal funds will be kept separate from our faith programs."

While Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) has won the hearts of the Religious Right with his fervent advocacy on causes from stem cells to Christmas, the long-shot presidential candidate has yet to win their minds: “Brownback has to prove he can win,” as Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention said. One part of his strategy to do so, apparently, is to convince the far Right that no other candidate will satisfy them. He saw an opening when doubts were raised about the longevity of former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts)’s commitment to right-wing positions on abortion and gays, but as it turns out, that left him vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy from his home state.

As reported in The New Republic and elsewhere, when Brownback first ran for Congress, his position on abortion was less than clear. Now, the Kansas City Star is reprinting a pair of articles from 1996 that raise even more questions. Republicans with moderate stands on abortion thought he was one of them:

When Sam Brownback first ran for Congress, Dixie Roberts thought she knew his type — Main Street Kansas Republican with mainstream values.

"I liked Sam. I thought he was a moderate," recalls the Republican activist from Manhattan.

Glenn Walker, a party worker from Hiawatha, had the same impression, that Brownback was heir to the Kansas Republican Party of Alf Landon, Dwight Eisenhower and Nancy Kassebaum, fiscally conservative and moderate on the social issues.

No wonder they were more than a little surprised in 1995, when their congressman turned out to be one of the new Republican revolutionaries, an outspoken firebrand in one of the most conservative Congresses in history.

Conservatives cried hallelujah, while moderates in Brownback’s 2nd District were incredulous.

"I thought that Sam ... moved farther right than what I thought he was," Walker said. "Maybe I misread him."

If moderates did misread Brownback, so did anti-abortion activists. "He changed his position" since running in 1993, said David Gittrich, executive director of Kansans for Life, in another 1996 article.

If he did, of course, he wouldn’t be the first far-right politician to do so and to still earn the full support of the Religious Right. Rick Santorum (R-PA), who was the Senate’s most vocal anti-abortion activist until he was voted out in November, began his political career with a position paper supporting abortion rights (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/1990). And Romney has cited Ronald Reagan’s evolution on the subject as Reagan constructed the right-wing coalition that would drive his ascent to the White House. But similar revelations about Brownback could neutralize his attempt to woo the Religious Right away from Romney, and thus keep Brownback in the long-shot category, far away from the generous donors he needs to break away.

Against clinic. Fishing and dubious charges were factor in anti-abortion politician’s defeat.

Kansas Republicans have selected Kris Kobach, a law professor and anti-immigrant activist allied with the Religious Right, to be their state party chairman, widening the gap between GOP moderates and the Right that has already led some to leave the party and run as Democrats, including the current lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Kobach first made headlines shortly after September 11, 2001, when he played a leading role defining immigration policy under Attorney General John Ashcroft; Kobach was instrumental in implementing a mass registration and questioning of “enemy aliens” (as the World War II-era law put it) – predominantly legal immigrants and visitors from Muslim countries. He moved back to the Kansas City suburbs in 2003 to run for Congress, while at the same time launching lawsuits in Kansas and California against laws granting in-state college tuition to undocumented immigrants who live in the state, attended U.S. high schools, and are pursuing citizenship.

During his unsuccessful congressional campaign, he came under fire from his own party for extreme rhetoric during the GOP primary, and was criticized for special appearances as a “constitutional expert” in churches in the midst of campaigning, such as at several “pastors’ policy briefings” with Jerry Falwell in the weeks leading up to the general election.

Since then, Kobach has continued his campaign against in-state college tuition for immigrants and against the federal DREAM Act. He also took part in a handful of immigration hearings last year held by House Republicans who were pushing their draconian enforcement bill. Most recently, he joined the legal defense of local anti-immigrant ordinances in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and Valley Park, Missouri.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, Republican candidates for president, have both been hard at work courting the Right Wing – from Romney speaking at “Liberty Sunday” to Brownback suiting up for the mythical “War on Christmas” to both signing Grover Norquist’s no-taxes pledge within a day of each other – and filling up their dance cards with endorsements from the Religious Right. Romney, though considered a more viable candidate, has been at a disadvantage in accruing right-wing points following revelations of his past support for gay rights.

Now, Brownback himself is questioning Romney’s right-wing credentials, reports CBN News:

“I think you have to look at where he stood on the issues and what he said publicly,"  Brownback said. “At times he's said different things on these issues. I think that's all going to come out during a long campaign."

Brownback wouldn’t flatly say if Romney is a reliable conservative. He said, “We'll see and that will be for him to discuss. I do think when we get out on the campaign trail and when the campaign really gets fully engaged, there's going to be a lot of discussion about where do people actually stand on the issues and where have they been and where are they now and how reliable are they to stay that way."

At the same time, CBN posted an article alluding to a similar problem haunting Brownback – his alleged pro-choice position at the start of his political career.

Presidential candidate Sam Brownback told CBN News that he's always been pro-life despite his decision to stay away from the pro-life label at the beginning of his race for Congress in 1994.

"I was in the same position in 1994 as I am today as far as being pro-life," said Brownback. "I didn't articulate then. I thought - and this is just getting into politics - that I would be better off saying the specific areas of the issue rather than 'Are you pro-life or pro-choice?'"

In particular, Brownback’s campaign said he had no recollection of telling Tim Golba, then president of Kansas for Life, that his position on abortion was “more in line with” that of pro-choice Sen. Nancy Kassebaum. The campaign has sent out a letter to supporters asking for job references: “Can I please ask those that are capable and willing to send me a testimonial quote highlighting Senator Brownback's work on pro-life issues?”

Both of these stories were reported by Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network. Robertson expressed enthusiasm early for Brownback, a point noted by conservative columnist George Will, reporter Jeff Sharlet, and others. Now, Robertson might be backing down a little bit, according to Sharlet.

Had been at issue in former AG Kline’s defeat. Activists cite Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly.

Militant Operation Rescue drew thousands in 1991. This year, joined by Mahoney of Christian Defense Coalition and Cass of Center for Reclaiming America for Christ.

The Washington Times reports that the English-only movement is “building momentum,” citing Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)’s plans to reintroduce his English Language Unity Act in the new Congress and “seven states pushing legislation to make English the official language or to strengthen laws already in place."

“This is the strongest push for official English legislation that I have seen in the last 15 years,” crowed Mauro Mujica, chairman of US English. Rep. King claimed that “There's been such strong support. And it's gaining momentum.” Of course, with Republican immigration hawks out of power, King’s bill may have even less chance of becoming law than last year, when it languished in committee. And while King may use his skills in exaggeration to magnify the “momentum” and to try to create a wedge issue to motivate the anti-immigrant base, the real focus may be on proposed state laws.

"The states have been wonderful on this,” said Jim Boulet Jr., the executive director of English First, a group most recently involved in a failed attempt to prevent Florida Sen. Mel Martinez from being named general chairman of the Republican National Committee. The Washington Times cites efforts by legislators in Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey and Oklahoma, as well as an English-only referendum that passed last year in Arizona. King himself is devoting his energy to the state level by suing the governor of Iowa for supposedly violating the English-only law King crafted as a state legislator.

By new attorney general; was hired two weeks ago by ousted AG Kline in effort to keep clinic records search alive.

In new job as county DA.

In Kansas, Ohio. But Discovery Institute’s John West looks to South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma.

Amid the myriad of losses the Right suffered this election – be it the anti-abortion measure in South Dakota, the stem-cell amendment in Missouri, the parental notification measure in California, the fall of Sen. Rick Santorum, or the loss of more than two dozen seats in the House – nothing seems to have generated as much rage as Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline’s, an anti-abortion zealot who has long been trying to obtain medical records from women’s health clinics in the state, defeat.

Operation Rescue was practically beside itself   

Morrison Slithers into Kansas AG's Office on Backs of Dead Babies

…

“Kansas has opted to continue the practice of looking the other way when innocent young girls are taken to abortion clinics by their rapists, who are looking to destroy the evidence of their crimes,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “It has also voted to ignore violations of Kansas law that bans post viability abortions. That vote has bloodied the hands of the Kansans who cast those votes.”

Being upset after losing a race that one feels passionately is understandable, but telling the nearly half-million voters who supported your preferred candidate’s opponent that they have blood on their hands is probably not going to generate a lot of sympathy or support.