Brownback Outraged By Chinese Domestic Spying; Here At Home, Eh, Not So Much

Senator Sam Brownback was livid about the Chinese government's plans to spy on people at Beijing hotels during the Olympics. I have to agree with him, spying on people (specifically here their internet use) is terrible and should be stopped. The freer information is, the better. Though I have to wonder where his soapbox on this was when FISA was being voted on. Since the Republicans voted in lockstep to let the President spy on Americans, his name is in there to allow for the same thing right here at home. So what's going on here?

From ThinkProgress:

This morning on CNN, asked by host John Roberts if China’s action amounts to “spying,” Brownback continued his outrage:

BROWNBACK: This is the public security bureau in China requiring the installation of hardware that they can listen to anybody and everybody’s and their communications and their recordings that are sent over the internet in a real-time purpose or over long-term. That’s spying, John. […] Your internet communications can all be monitored in a real time basis by the public security bureau of the Chinese government. I think they’re clearly intent upon spying. they’re going to be spying.

Brownback also recently voted for the FISA reform legislation which gave the government greater powers “to tap directly into the U.S. telecommunications systems in order to monitor international emails and telephone calls with no individual warrant required.”

When asked about the difference between the Chinese and American spying practices, Brownback said, “We don’t put the hardware and software on hotels.” He added that the Chinese program can be used “on journalists,” “on athletes,” “on their families,” “democracy advocates,” and “human rights advocates ” — seemingly oblivious that all these groups could be spied on here as well. (HT: Atrios)

So is he dumb or just outright lying to all of us? Although Sam made some comments to the contrary of what George W. wanted to hear from his brethren in Congress, he still voted for FISA and is for what companies like AT&T and Verizon want to hear. Giving them more power and free reign is the wrong recipe for all of us, especially now that they know they can get away with helping an executive break the law as long as it's for "national security."

Brownback Does Flips For McCain

The former Presidential candidate and now Vice-Presidential hopeful is playing politics with his constituents because ultimately, pleasing John McCain comes before the Kansans he represents. Yesterday he was passionately against moving the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to Ft. Leavenworth, perhaps to uphold the sanctity of Jayhawks or something along those lines. But because McCain is for the same thing, Brownback dutifully performs for the Republican nominee.

From ThinkProgress:

Yesterday, the Center for American Progress released a report advocating closing Guantanamo and relocating remaining detainees to the “Supermax” prison in Colorado or to the U.S. Military Detention Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth, KS.

Soon after, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) sent out a press release attacking the report, calling it “misleading and inaccurate.” “Fort Leavenworth has neither the space nor the security arrangements to handle detainees from Guantanamo Bay,” he said, criticizing advocates of this position:

I am disappointed that policy makers and analysts continue to talk about Fort Leavenworth as a place to house detainees without visiting the facility. In person visits will confirm why the Disciplinary Barracks do not meet the security requirements necessary to perform this mission, even if Guantanamo Bay were to close.

But an outspoken advocate of relocating Guantanamo detainees to Ft. Leavenworth is Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). In his statement, Brownback — who says he would be “honored” to be McCain’s vice president — left out any mention of McCain’s stance on the issue. McCain, in fact, has long supported relocating all Gitmo detainees to Ft. Leavenworth:

– Q: How would you fight the War on Terror differently than it’s being fought now?
McCAIN: I would probably announce the closing of Guantanamo Bay. I would move those detainees to Fort Leavenworth. I would announce we will not torture anyone. [4/29/07]

– McCAIN: I would immediately close Guantanamo Bay, move all the prisoners to Fort Leavenworth and truly expedite the judicial proceedings in their cases. [3/18/07]

But after McCain made these statements, Brownback’s office did not level similar attacks at him. In April, Brownback wrote an op-ed titled, “Don’t put detainees at Ft. Leavenworth” criticizing an article stating Ft. Leavenworth “could work” for detainees. “If the goal is improving America’s security, Ft. Leavenworth is not the solution,” he said. Not surprisingly, Brownback didn’t mention McCain in that op-ed either.

Nothing about this is surprising. Senator Brownback, along with John McCain have no principles to their names except for making sure they try and stay in office, in power and do whatever they can to obtain more power. Covering for McCain on this issue might not get him a spot on the ticket, but it definitely counts as brownie points for Senator Sam.

N.H. GOP Boos Brownback

Even Republicans up here for the most part do not agree with banning gay marriage. It's "Live Free Or Die" here buddy.

Brownback Gets A Singing Girl Of His Own

One of the family values candidates on the right has a new crush on his hands. The music is terrible and this girl is definitely not as hot as Obama's, but the video is at least a little funny. What will Mrs. Brownback think?

Brownback Blows It In Wisconsin

The worst thing a politician could possibly do while in the Cheesehead state would be to diss the Green Bay Packers. The fact is they are a great team and have a had a lot of successful players over the years. I personally think that the public ownership of the team is an incredible and unique situation that really gets the crowd involved on a level that no other pro-team can compare to.

So what does Sam Brownback do that gets him completely blown out of the water (and not to mention Lambert Field)? He talks up Peyton Manning to the crowd and then it gets worse from there. It's okay to like your home team while running for national office but this is completely unacceptable.

From Yahoo News:

The GOP presidential hopeful drew boos and groans Friday at the Wisconsin Republican Party convention when he used a football analogy to talk about the need to focus on families.

"This is fundamental blocking and tackling," he said. "This is your line in football. If you don't have a line, how many passes can Peyton Manning complete? Greatest quarterback, maybe, in NFL history."

Oops, wrong team to mention in Wisconsin, once described by Gov. Tommy Thompson as the place "where eagles soar, Harleys roar and Packers score."

Thompson and Brownback may agree on some controversial issues but when it comes to Football Thompson knows his stuff, especially since he was Governor of the state. The situation became even worse for Sam when he mentioned Bart Starr. Once he finally got to Green Bay favorite Brett Favre, he had already sunk himself. Not only are his chances for the Republican nomination in the toilet, so are his hopes for being allowed in to watch a Packer game in Wisconsin.

Did Sen. Sam Brownback Just Harass Sen. Amy Klobuchar?

Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas may be a second-tier candidate for President next year but that didn't keep him out of the news today. Apparently this conservative member of the boys club made an uncouth remark to the brand new Senator from Minnesota. What exactly did he mean by this?

It started off innocently enough as he made small-talk with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, mentioning, in passing, that senators often take off their ties when negotiating bills behind closed doors. Klobuchar needled him about it.

Klobuchar: “Ties off?… But I don’t wear a tie.”
Brownback: “I could say ‘dresses off’ but I won’t.”
Klobuchar (laughing, blushing): “Not while you’re running for president.”

He couldn't say take your dress off Senator Klobuchar...but he did anyways in not so many words.

It is always amusing to hear one of the leaders of the 'moral values' party be touted as a pure and saintly. Evidently, Brownback is not one to abstain from possible sexual harassment, even in the halls of Congress. The social conservatives and bible-belters love this guy for his clean-cut image. Of course he is not purported to have much of a chance in 2008. Yet if he were to be elevated to top-tier status due to the fact that McCain's chances are falling according to laws of gravity and current front-runner Rudy Giuliani's past is not widely-known to the general public, this could be an interesting story. Whenever I try to not put GOP and hypocrite in the same sentence, those GOoPers always seem to disprove that idea.

Presidential Candidate Weekend: Clinton, Richardson and Brownback

It seems like everyone who has been rumored to come out and run is doing it this weekend. First we had Bill Richardson announce his intentions yesterday. Hillary Clinton followed suit today for the Democratic nomination and Sen. Brownback made it official for the Republicans. All three have been noted as serious candidates. For a time Hillary was the candidate on the left, though the chairsmatic Edwards and Obamarama has forced Clinton to show her cards. Brownback's announcement brings a social and fiscal conservative to the table, unlike McCain who has only recently tried to change his stripes to fit those on the far right.

Hillary announced with the theme of talking to the party. She wants to have an online chat with the Democratic party in order to keep up with the YouTubing Edwards and Obama. We'll see how far that goes. See her statement here.

Gov. Bill Richardson is known to be the best candidate on paper. Recently returned from Darfur, his trip had the reward of brokering peace in the troubled region. He has headed the Democratic Governor's Association and is a strong leader in New Mexico. Like Hillary, he needs to catch up to the candidates that already have a huge head start.

Senator Sam Brownback is the bible belt's dream. He has done and said all the right things for that crowd. Of course the party has mostly been behind McCain, who already has lined up key endorsements and more importantly financial backers for what is going to be an expensive race.

Welcome all to the field, now its time to get ugly, hopefully we will see some positive ideas and not campaign crap that politics has been used to for far too long.